Grand jury gets tunnel collapse

A special grand jury convened in Boston this week to begin hearing testimony from workers, managers, and others involved in the construction of the Big Dig tunnel that collapsed in July, killing a 38-year-old Jamaica Plain woman.

A spokesman for Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly , who requested the grand jury, said the panel would help decide whether anyone should face criminal charges in the accident.

Reilly's office -- along with state troopers, the FBI, and other government agencies -- has been investigating whether there was criminal negligence in the construction of the heavy concrete ceiling of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel, part of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project.

``The family of Melina Del Valle and the taxpayers of Massachusetts deserve answers to what went so tragically wrong on July 10," Reilly 's spokesman , David Guarino, said.

Investigators have focused on the design and installation of the ceiling, which relies on bolts suspended with epoxy to hold up the 4,500-pound ceiling panels. Twenty of the bolts popped out , sending panels crashing to the road and crushing the car in which Del Valle was a passenger. Investigators discovered that the epoxy on some of the bolts showed signs of premature wear or faulty installation.

The grand jury, convened by the state jury commissioner, meets in secret and has the legal power to force witnesses to appear. Until now, the attorney general's investigators have been unable to interview a number of key people because they declined to speak on the advice of their lawyers.

Scott Allen