Thursday, 4:30 PM
Route 128 deemed safe, despite chunks that fell from Weston bridge
By Globe Staff
Concrete chunks fell from an overpass onto Route 128 in Weston yesterday afternoon, popping the tires on three cars. But a highway official says that repairs were made last night and there’s no need to worry about a recurrence today.
The chunks fell at about 4:40 p.m. from a 50-year-old bridge that carries an exit ramp from the Massachusetts Turnpike over Route 128, said Massachusetts Turnpike Authority spokesman Mac Daniel.
Daniel said the chunks, which broke into baseball-size pieces after they hit the northbound side of road, were not from a load-bearing portion of the bridge, so there was no need to be concerned about the bridge’s strength. He said the concrete came from a part of the bridge that was "more of a structural detail."
Workers visually inspected the portion of the bridge over the Charles River and the northbound lanes and tested for other questionable sections of concrete with hammers, chipping away any loose pieces.
They also visually inspected the portion over the southbound lanes and will perform physical tests and chipping later today, beginning at about 9 p.m., he said.
"There should be no worries on the part of motorists traveling in that area," he said.
In a separate incident, a motorist traveling southbound on Route 128 just before the Route 20 exit in Waltham at about 10:55 a.m today noticed a dislodged storm drain cover in the breakdown lane. Workers from the Massachusetts Highway Department replaced the cover. No car was damaged and no one was injured, said Trooper Eric Benson, a state police spokesman.
