State officials: Too-tall truck smashed into signs over roadway in O’Neill Tunnel

E-mail | Print | Comments () 08/14/2012 12:37 PM

Bill Greene/Globe Staff

Workers repaired the light in the northbound section of the tunnel.

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By Kevin Cullen, Eric Moskowitz and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A truck that was too tall smashed into two electronic signals mounted on the ceiling inside the northbound side of the Thomas P. O’Neill Tunnel in Boston at about 10 a.m. today, leaving at least one dangling in the air above the roadway.

(Jason Porter via Twitter)

The first signal was near the northbound entrance to the tunnel and the second was near Exit 26, the Storrow Drive exit, Department of Transportation spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said in an e-mail.

The Lane Use Signals display green arrows or red X’s to indicate to drivers which lane to use.

Transportation officials and State Police are working to identify the vehicle and plan to review tunnel surveillance video as part of their investigation.

As State Police and transportation workers’ vehicles arrived at the scene, traffic on the busy artery through Boston slowed. But workers removed both signals and all lanes of Interstate 93 were reopened before 11 a.m., Lavoie said.

A Globe reporter saw the object near the tunnel entrance dangling about 10 feet over the roadway shortly before 10 a.m. A State Police cruiser was parked in the lane so no one would drive under the hanging object.

Globe correspondent Wesley Lowery contributed to this report.