The Boston Globe reports that while details are worked out on the timing and scope of the massive and controversial 15 year project to repair Storrow Drive and its entire infrastructure, interim safety repairs will be conducted throughout 2008. Somehow, I can’t help but envision the CharlesRiverside Big Dig for the next decade. The project surrounded us at Harbor Towers for many of the years that I managed that property but at least the construction of the tunnel and the removal of the elevated highway were fascinating to watch up close and made the traffic nightmare a little bit tolerable in the process.
from the Globe” “Officials at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, less than a week after announcing they had postponed plans to rebuild the decaying Storrow Drive Tunnel, said yesterday that the agency will spend $6.8 million on interim repairs.The tunnel repairs will begin early in 2008 and continue for up to nine months. The repairs will replace deteriorated concrete in the roof and walls and waterproof roof joints to prevent leaks. The work will be done at night, allowing the tunnel to remain open to traffic during the day, agency officials said.
“These repairs are necessary to keep the Storrow Drive tunnel operational until we begin the full reconstruction,” Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. said in a statement. “We will use the additional time those repairs provide to work through the challenge of managing reconstruction of this heavily traveled roadway.”
Officials said the agency has already begun a $430,000 project to repair the 56-year-old tunnel’s drainage system and structural beams. Those repairs began Sunday and will continue for about six weeks.
