The Sky is Falling

Boston awoke this morning to the news we dread, more Big Dig stories. Last night, sometime around 11 pm a large hunk of ceiling in the Turnpike connector tunnel came crashing down when a steel tieback let go. The three ton slab of concrete crushed a car; while the driver was rescued alive the passenger in the vehicle was killed. The stretch of turnpike connector to the Ted Williams Tunnel is closed until at least mid-day tomorrow.

The impact may be measured in rumblings around offices this morning as commuters arrive late after waiting through traffic backups resulting from the closure of the tunnel. The Turnpike Authority assures travelers that the type of ceiling tile which fell was only used in that 200 foot length of roadway and no where else as part of the Big Dig. The I-93 tunnels and other portions of Big Dig roadways aren't undergoing the emergency investigations this morning – but even more investigations into Big Dig safety will likely be conducted in coming months.

Besides traffic backlog on many of the area roadways with commuters seeking alternate routes the route to Logan will be the most congested. Passengers traveling to Logan will be diverted to the Callahan Tunnel. Silver Line busses will also be forced to take an alternate route, though inspectors have given them special permission to take one bus through a special emergency egress once every 20 minutes – but the T is telling passengers to allow an extra 25 minutes if you're traveling on the Silver Line. They've augmented the Blue Line service for the day, but it remains to be told if the MBTA will take this chance to actually offer a Red to Blue transfer above ground.

The Herald ditches their original front page for the breaking story (as shown here) - a flurry of activity was no doubt had to make the change late at night. The Globe pulls out a front page story and replaces it with the Big Dig tragedy, but only for those who get the late press edition - the early runs for the suburbs missed the story. But no imagery and some sketchy facts make the broadsheet, instead we learn about cactus.