A beleaguered epoxy supplier has called on the National Transportation Safety Board to correct several adverse findings regarding the July 10, 2006 Interstate 90 tunnel plenum collapse that killed a 38–year–old local woman. NTSB found at a public hearing exactly one year later that the use of fast–set epoxy proven unable to support sustained loads caused the anchor bolts to creep out. NTSB criticized epoxy supplier Powers Fasteners, Inc., Brewster, N.Y., because it "failed to provide the Central Artery/Tunnel project with sufficiently complete, accurate and detailed information about the suitability of the company's fast–set epoxy for sustaining long–term tensile loads."
William J. Angelo/ENR Hasso discusses study findings with Vo (left) and Bernadin. Mark Hasso’s students come to school in baggy shorts, turned-around baseball caps and shaved heads. They’ll leave with marketable degrees, hands-on construction experience, great contacts and $60,000-plus job offers. The civil engineering and construction management professor at Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology knows what the industry wants and makes sure his graduates deliver. A day with the veteran engineer-academic shows how dedicated, involved individuals are changing the face of construction education. Sophomore Krystale Goodridge arrives at 8 a.m. to talk with Hasso, the school’s CM program coordinator, about
PODCAST Jack Lemley: Big Dig Report Reaction The National Transportation Safety Board found on July 10 that improper epoxy use, poor or misleading product information and lack of follow-up inspections were the critical factors that led to a fatal Interstate 90 tunnel plenum collapse in Boston last year. The NTSB board unanimously adopted the 171-page report, which includes 20 findings and 20 safety recommendations. In a five-hour meeting, held one year to the day after the collapse, the board determined that the pullout failure of twenty 8-in.-long threaded stainless-steel epoxied bolt anchors precipitated the collapse. Ten precast concrete panels and
Gray Construction The same clear thinking and drive for perfection that will soon position Toyota as the world’s largest car manufacturer has long been a factor in the success of Gray Construction, a burgeoning family-run firm located in Lexington, Ky. Gray’s penchant for kaizen, continuous improvement and a total team concept, have helped it land over 250 exacting projects for Japanese firms and another equally demanding 500 projects for American, European and Korean firms. After the untimely death of founder James Norris Gray in 1972 left the firm in the hands of his widow, Lois and their two oldest sons,
Bolt Blues. Ted Williams Tunnel remains partially closed pending fix of slipped bolts (above).(Photos Courtesy of the Massachusetts Governor’s Office) The political fallout continues in Boston following a fatal air-plenum collapse July 10 in the Interstate 90 cut-and-cover connector tunnel portal. A redundant support system is being readied while the governor prepares to possibly fire the oversight agency chairman. The accident that dropped 10 tons of concrete onto the road killed a local woman and further tarnished the $14.6-billion Central Artery/Tunnel’s image. Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has scheduled a closed hearing for July 27 to strip Matthew J. Amorello of
Challenging. Tight site squeezes in old and new digesters and new final sedimentation tanks. Brooklyn’s gritty industrial waterfront is bristling with frenetic activity as engineers and workers jockey about a tight site upgrading New York City’s largest wastewater treatment plant. The mammoth project, costing more than $3 billion, will process 310 million gallons of wastewater per day to federal secondary treatment standards by late 2007 and give neighbors much needed odor relief and community amenities. Since 1998, 800 to 1,000 workers from 25 prime contractors and hundreds of subcontractors have labored intensively on the 53-acre site to overhaul the treatment
One-of-a-Kind. Battle Stations 21 project is designed to provide more realistic training. (Photo courtesy of McShane-Fleming Sudios) Quietly rising under the radar and chaff of today’s starchitects and signature structures is a revolutionary ship-shaped building within a building that marks the beginning of a new genre of naval military training. Built around technology, theatrics and special effects, the project is the product of imaginative teamwork. Dubbed Battle Stations 21, the $82.5-million facility now under construction at the U.S. Navy’s Great Lakes Naval Station, North Chicago, will be the ultimate in naval warfare simulation. When operational in the summer of 2007,
+Click to Enlarge Hot Spots. Samplers identify dredging targets. (Photo courtesy of General Electric;) In a consent decree signed October 6, the General Electric Co has agreed to dredge the hottest areas of PCB-contaminated sediment in the Hudson River and to build a sediment transfer and processing facility. The work could cost between $100 million to $150 million and is scheduled for a 2007 completion. Fairfield, Conn.-based GE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Justice Dept. reached an agreement in federal district court in Albany, N.Y. The pact stipulates that GE will also pay EPA $78 million for
STRAIGHT SHOT Metcalf & Eddy’s Martin and MWRA’s McBride (right) helped guide complicated tunneling to ease overstressed facilities. (Photo by William J. Angelo for ENR) Six south shore Boston communities are getting a new $200-million sewage pumping and transport system to help reduce chronic surcharge and backup problems. The work involves utilizing three different tunneling techniques to cross a river, peninsula and bay. Work on the Braintree-Weymouth relief facilities project started in 1999 and will wrap up by year’s end. The effort includes constructing a 45-million-gallon-per-day intermediate pump station; 2.7-mile-long, 42-in.-dia hard-rock tunnel under Boston Harbor; 60-in.-dia relief interceptor; and
BIG DIG The Central Artery/Tunnel project will change the way Boston works, but it cost $14.6-billion. (Photo courtesy of bigdig.com) The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority filed suit March 16 against the joint venture of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff seeking damages of up to $146 million in connection with its role as project consultant on Boston’s $14.6-billion Central Artery/Tunnel project. At particular issue is the escalation in project costs, which went from $2.6 billion in 1982 to the final tally of $14.6 billion. B/PB claims that the charges are without merit. Filed in Suffolk County Superior Court, the civil