Thursday, 4:30 PM
Loose manhole on I-93 unrelated to storm grate accident, official says
By Peter Schworm and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The manhole cover that came loose this morning on Interstate 93 in Milton was dislodged over the weekend by heavy rain and is unrelated to the problems that caused a storm grate to fly through the windshield of a car Friday on Route 128, according to a spokesman for the state highway department.
"It's apples and oranges," said John Lamontagne, a spokesman for MassHighway. "This is not an uncommon situation when there's a large volume of stormwater."
The driver of the Logan Express bus noticed the manhole cover was lodged under the bus when he arrived at a terminal in Braintree. Highway workers welded a replacement cover over the manhole and reopened the right lane of southbound I-93 to traffic at 10:20 a.m. No accidents or injuries were reported.
On Friday morning, a 250-pound storm grate flew through the windshield of a Toyota Corolla on Route 128 in Westwood and seriously hurt the driver. After the accident, work crews had fanned out across Massachusetts highways and welded storm grates shut.
