Landing at a hotel near you: Air Valet
Business travelers, conventioneers, and upscale tourists who want to spend their last day in Boston without schlepping luggage around will have a convenient option in the coming months: checking in bags at the hotel.
Penfield's, a company that runs security and amenities for hotels, plans to launch a program called Air Valet sometime after Nov. 1, said its president, Fred LaSelva.
Here's how it works: You check your bags in with a designated clerk at the hotel at least three hours before your flight is scheduled to take off. The clerk gives you a boarding pass and baggage claim tickets and you're finished. You can go about your business or pleasure and show up at airport security to catch your flight. The hotel trucks the luggage to the airport and you pick it up at your destination.
LaSelva said the service would be available at the Sheraton Boston, Westin Copley Place, Westin Boston Waterfront, the InterContinental, and the Liberty Hotel. So far, he has lined up Delta, Northwest,
He has not yet determined how much he will charge.
Water taxi to Logan
Once the baggage program gets going, some visitors may want to take a water taxi to the airport after they check in their bags. Penfield's is also running a small kiosk behind the InterContinental, just a few steps from the dock, that is being promoted as a water transportation terminal, a place to use the bathroom and freshen up while the desk clerk calls you a water taxi.
The round 130-square-foot kiosk was built by the InterContinental, finished in December 2006 as part of environmental mitigation. It sat empty until it opened in mid-June. Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association, pushed to get it built and has been promoting it relentlessly since then.
She hopes when the development in the area is finished - including the planned Boston Tea Party Museum - water transportation to and from that part of the waterfront will grow more common and consistent.
So far, in addition to waiting for a water taxi there, you can use the restroom, pick up a CharlieCard for the MBTA, or buy a bottle of water, a souvenir, and a pack of Junior Mints. Clerks also hand out maps, brochures, and transit schedules. LaSelva said he has yet to turn a profit, but Li sees this as a key piece of the Harbor Walk, an amenity for walkers and water commuters.
The kiosk will close for winter on Oct. 15. LaSelva expects to reopen it March 15.
Concern over a crack
The crack that warranted federal truck restrictions on a Big Dig bridge last week was about 10 feet long and 1/32 of an inch wide.
The Leverett Connector Bridge, where the crack was found, takes traffic from the Tobin Bridge and Charlestown and carries it either over the Charles River onto Leverett Circle or onto the Zakim Bridge and southbound Interstate 93. The damaged concrete support was on a portion over Boston Sand & Gravel Co.
A private engineering report from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates commissioned after the fatal ceiling collapse of 2006 identified the crack as a "priority 1" safety issue that should be fixed as soon as possible. But the engineers stopped short of labeling it an emergency situation, calling it safe for regular vehicle traffic.
The biggest concern: an overload of weight directly on top of the crack. That could, if the imbalance were severe enough, weaken the support beam.
Bob Rooney, deputy secretary of transportation who oversaw the engineering report, called that an extremely unlikely scenario. He said it would require two trucks weighing more than 40 tons each, traveling simultaneously on the two southbound lanes, with a full load of traffic behind them and in front of them. At the same time, the two northbound lanes would have to be vacant.
Trucks between 40 and 50 tons require special permits and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority had 400 active permits as of Friday, said spokesman Mac Daniel. No trucks over 50 tons are currently permitted on the bridge.
Still, it was enough of a risk that the Federal Highway Administration required the state to keep those heavy trucks off the lane that is closest to the crack.
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has designed the restriction so trucks over 40 tons can still enter the Leverett Connector and stay in the left lane, and get onto the Zakim. They will not be allowed to travel on the right lane, which goes to Leverett Circle and downtown.
That means the restriction will have little practical effect. Trucks that size are not allowed from Leverett Circle onto Storrow Drive, according to the Department of Conservation and Recreation. So they would have to be going downtown. And, while they may be able to enter from Charlestown, none will be coming from the Tobin, which bans trucks weighing more than 36 tons.
The state promises to finish repairs by Nov. 1 without disrupting regular vehicle traffic.
Hard line on cabs
Beginning tomorrow, taxicabs that lack Fast Lane transponders to pay tolls electronically will be subject to a $50 fine, Daniel said.
In June, state and Boston police began enforcing the requirement, set in 2006, issuing warnings to cabbies who tried to pay cash at toll lanes. Multiple citations will cost drivers suspensions of their taxi license of one to five days.
Send complaints, comments, or story ideas to starts@globe.com. The column and a listing of major road closures and other transportation advisories can be found at www.boston.com/starts. 