< Back to front page Text size – +

Crumbling Pike overpass was scheduled for repairs in 2012

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 15, 2009 06:36 PM

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

A Massachusetts Turnpike overpass that dropped a chunk of concrete onto a passing car’s windshield Monday was slated for repairs in fiscal year 2012, according to the state.

The Cambridge Street bridge in Allston was rated "structurally deficient" because the top layer, the bridge deck, needs repairs. But it's not unsafe, said Executive Office of Transportation spokesman Adam Hurtubise. Fiscal 2012 begins in July 2011.

Just after noon Monday, Margaret Garvey, 49, of Marlborough, was traveling east on Interstate 90 near the Allston-Brighton tolls when her Volvo was showered with concrete debris.

“She was driving along, going 65 in the fast lane, and all of a sudden – Bam!” said her husband, Mike Garvey. “There were several chunks in the grill; a big chunk the size of a softball hit the passenger windshield. … Her sunroof was open. Glass chunks and concrete flew into the car.

Mrs. Garvey pulled her car to the side of the highway and was later taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, said Trooper Eric Benson, a state police spokesman. She sustained only scrapes on her arm, her husband said.

But medical responders told her that they had treated a man two nights earlier in a similar situation, according to her husband. They told her a piece of concrete fell in the same area and shattered a man’s windshield, Mr. Garvey said.

State police have no records of the incident, Benson said.

Wooden planks were attached to the bottom of the bridge Monday night to catch any more falling debris, Hurtubise said. Engineers also tested the bridge again, finding the falling concrete did not affect its structural integrity.

With the wooden planks and second inspection, travelers should feel safe driving over and under the bridge, Hurtubise said. "It's not unsafe," he said. “If it was unsafe, it would’ve been closed."

Engineers will conduct a full annual inspection in November.