Thursday, 4:30 PM
Big Dig repair costs escalate
By Mac Daniel and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority today approved an additional $6 million to pay for Big Dig repairs, increasing the price tag from last summer’s fatal tunnel ceiling collapse to $31 million -- with more potentially to come.
"I, sitting here today, can’t guarantee to the board that there wouldn’t be another increase requested," Big Dig project director Michael P. Lewis told Turnpike Authority board members, who unanimously approved the request.
State transportation officials said the rising cost reflects labor-intensive repairs to the massive tunnel system’s fundamental design, which engineers found necessary to ensure public safety after Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain was killed in the July collapse in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel.
Lewis said the additional $6 million would enable workers to finish the major remaining repairs within two weeks, as well as any subsequent repairs ordered by state transportation officials after final inspections.
But some Turnpike Authority board members were skeptical.
"It’s just growing and growing and growing. Is it coming to an end?" asked Mary Z. Connaughton of Framingham.
About a month after Del Valle’s death, Big Dig officials sought and received $15 million for fixes, but warned that the amount was a preliminary estimate. In December, the turnpike authority board approved another $10 million at the request of Big Dig officials.
The Turnpike Authority board’s chairman, John Cogliano, who presided over the aftermath of the tunnel collapse as transportation secretary under former governor Mitt Romney, said any initial estimates made on repair costs were based on limited information.
"If you go back to July, we didn’t know," he said. "We didn’t know what the problems were. I would be hard pressed to come up with an estimate back then."
Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com, and Raja Mishra at rmishra@globe.com
