More Big Dig woes: Some barriers short

Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, and Brian McGrory, Globe Staff, Tuesday, January 15, 2002

Big Dig officials, wrestling with yet another problem on the megaproject, are trying to figure out how to fix nearly a mile of concrete guard barriers built as much as 2 inches below the federally approved height on two Leverett Circle Connector ramps, according to Central Artery Project reports.

The barriers, cast into both ramps at the north end of the Connector, high above rail lines on the Somerville-Charlestown line, were supposed to stand 32 inches tall, following federal safety regulations developed in 1997.

Instead, the barriers range from 30 inches to 31 inches tall for more than 4,000 feet of roadway, documents state, and they've been like that since the span opened in October 1999. What's more, the problem was not discovered until January 2000, documents reveal.

Although federal crash tests of the so-called "F-shaped concrete bridge rails" are not even conducted on barriers shorter than 32 inches, engineering specifications for the barriers show that the devices can stand as low as 29 inches and still ensure that motorists do not launch off the roadway.

As a result, Central Artery officials, as well as those with the firm managing the Big Dig, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, say the problem does not constitute an "imminent safety threat." That conclusion is shared by the local office of the Federal Highway Administration, officials there said yesterday.

Still, two highway safety experts, as well as the president of the firm on the project, J. F. White Contracting Co., said the problem is a concern.

"I don't want to be too volatile about this, but we wouldn't go out there and fix it if it weren't a serious safety problem," said Peter White, owner of J. F. White.

The concrete barriers are along a stretch of elevated roadway about 40 to 60 feet above rail lines.

"Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable walking under that," said Malcolm H. Ray, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute who has written several research papers for the federal government on concrete barriers. "I would wonder about the quality of workmanship if they missed 32 inches."

Another expert, Richard McGinnis, an engineering professor at Bucknell University who also has worked as a federal highway safety consultant, called the problem a "moderate risk rather than a major risk, but it is definitely a risk."

Still, he added, "It's a shame on such a high-profile project that the contractor didn't meet the initial contract specifications. That's bad."

Artery officials have demanded that J. F. White fix the problem at its own expense when the weather improves this spring.

The sides have been squabbling about the best solution for months, in part because the fix may cost as much as $500,000, and force traffic to use alternate routes during the repair work, officials said.

"The corrective action will be done because the project wants exactly what it paid for," said Artery spokesman Sean O'Neill. "If this was a serious safety issue, we would have rectified it immediately. But in this case, some of the remedies were seen as more problematic than the height deficiencies themselves."

Completed in October 1999, the Leverett Connector was the second major portion of the $14.5 billion Central Artery project opened to commuters, following the Ted Williams Tunnel's completion in 1995. Since then, the concrete span has proved a popular way to avoid back-ups on the Expressway between Somerville and downtown Boston.

The $50.4 million contract, held by J. F. White Contracting Co., also came in $5.45 million over budget, records show.

The barrier problem was discovered during a routine inspection in January 2000, records show. At that time, the engineers, working for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff thought the guard barriers stood as low as 28 inches high, documents reveal. That was three months after the span opened.

Asked why Bechtel engineers hired to ensure project quality failed to detect the problem before the roadway opened, Keith Sibley, the Bechtel engineer who oversees that area, said: "Obviously, the spot-checking toward that end did not catch the error. Exactly how they managed to create the different [barrier] shape, we're not sure."

Sibley said the problem was detected when an engineer driving on the ramp noticed "a dip at one of the locations."

"That's when we did some more checks," Sibley said.

A subsequent, more detailed survey in April 2000 showed that the barriers stand 30 inches at their lowest point. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, that's an inch higher than the absolute minimum height to require the safety of passenger car drivers.

However, Charles F. McDevitt, a 40-year veteran structural engineer in the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Safety Research and Development, wrote recently that 32-inch barriers need every inch they have.

"When a single-unit truck, such as a Ryder or U-Haul rental truck, hits a concrete barrier in a crash test, it rolls toward the barrier until the underside of the truck bed comes to rest on the top of the barrier," McDevitt wrote in the spring issue of "Public Roads," a publication of the US Department of Transportation. "This stops the roll motion. Then, the vehicle slides along the top of the barrier until it is redirected upright. For this to occur, the concrete barrier must have a minimum height of 815 millimeters [32 inches]."

The barrier issue came up as a topic of concern in October 2000 with the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which manages the Big Dig. At that time, board members were probing allegations that the Bechtel/Parsons joint venture was not giving the project its money's worth.

Raphael Lewis can be reached by e-mail at rlewis@globe.com.

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on Tuesday, January 15, 2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.