Supplier of Big Dig concrete investigated
Assurances voiced on safety
State and federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that Aggregate Industries, the largest supplier of concrete to the Big Dig, delivered substandard concrete to the $14.6 billion project on hundreds of occasions and falsified records to conceal the poor quality, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday.
State troopers and prosecutors raided Aggregate Industries properties in Peabody, Saugus, and Everett in June and turned up evidence that the company had drawn up phony documents to make it appear that truckloads of old or rejected concrete were freshly poured, Reilly said. The state requires that concrete must be prepared within 90 minutes of its arrival on a job site, because concrete starts to set, making it difficult to pour.
Reilly said after the raid that he quickly began working in concert with the FBI and US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's office to prosecute the case aggressively. ''We got the records that we were looking for and the information we were looking for," Reilly said.
Reilly, who met with a concrete industry specialist about the case, said it does not appear at this time that the concrete used in the Big Dig poses structural or safety concerns.
''Right now, we have no information that safety or strength or durability is an issue," Reilly said. ''But we are continuing to look at certain areas. I came away comforted [from the conversation with the specialist], but that does not excuse the behavior."
The allegations concern concrete that was delivered at least five years ago, and if the concrete was causing structural problems, they would probably have appeared by now, Reilly said.
''All of this was poured prior to 2000, and you would expect to see deterioration," he said.
Reilly added that he has no reason to believe the inquiry is connected to the discovery of hundreds of leaks in the tunnels, which has sparked separate federal and state investigations.
The allegations about the concrete stemmed from a whistleblower suit filed May 16 in Suffolk Superior Court. A Suffolk County grand jury has been impaneled to hear evidence in the case, and Aggregate Industries officials have also appeared before a federal grand jury sitting in Worcester.
Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for Sullivan, would not comment yesterday on the allegations against Aggregate Industries, but said Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak, ''is reviewing all aspects of the Big Dig."
R. Robert Popeo, the Boston lawyer representing Aggregate Industries, yesterday said the company stands by the quality of the concrete it delivered.
''Aggregate Industries never delivered to a contractor that worked for the state of Massachusetts on the Central Artery or to the state directly any concrete that did not meet the specifications called for in the contract, nor was any concrete delivered to the site which failed to meet the strength specifications called for by the state," Popeo said.
Big Dig concrete inspectors checked mixer-truck deliveries to ensure that concrete arriving at job sites was fresh, that its consistency met guidelines, that it did not have unapproved ingredients, and that it would be strong enough to serve its purpose.
Tracy A. Miner, who along with Popeo represents Aggregate Industries, said there was ''certainly no concerted effort to send rejected concrete to the Big Dig."
Miner said there were independent inspectors at all Aggregate Industries plants who checked the quality of concrete before it was sent to the Big Dig.
''The concrete on the Big Dig passed every single quality control test," Miner said. ''None of the concrete has ever been rejected for quality reasons."
Mariellen Burns -- spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig -- issued an e-mail statement saying: ''We have no information that gives us concern about the strength or the durability of the concrete used on the project. Rigorous inspection protocols were in place from plant to placement and were based on industry standards. The concrete mixes used were conservative by design and generally attained higher strengths than required by design criteria. We have and will cooperate in any way necessary with this investigation."
The inspections of concrete deliveries on the Big Dig were conducted by the project's management consultant, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. Andrew Paven, a spokesman for the company, said Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff would ''never comment on an ongoing investigation."
Reilly said there was no information unearthed to date that would implicate state overseers or Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff inspectors in the Aggregate Industries allegations, but said the investigation continues.
Federal authorities continue to investigate allegations that first surfaced in 2002 that Aggregate Industries officials operated a bid-rigging scheme on several public construction projects separate from the Big Dig. Earlier this year, two former company officials, William Cowhig of Topsfield and Luigi Iuliano of Winchester, pleaded guilty in federal court to witness tampering in relation to the case.
Aggregate Industries, acquired earlier this year by the Swiss cement industry giant Holcim Ltd., is the dominant concrete producer in the state, with plants in Everett, Dorchester, Saugus, Swampscott, Watertown, Waltham, Wilmington, and beyond.
The company provided 60 percent of the 3.8 million cubic yards of concrete that contractors used to build the new Central Artery tunnels and roadways, a volume of concrete large enough to pave a 3-foot-wide sidewalk between Boston and San Francisco three times, according to the Big Dig.
Concrete on the Big Dig was subject to a series of strict quality controls. When companies such as Aggregate Industries created batches of concrete at their plants, inspectors for the project randomly tested the material to ensure that it had the right mix of stone, water, chemicals, sand, and cement and the correct consistency and strength. Inspectors prepared a bill to accompany the mixer-truck drivers as they delivered the material to the construction sites.
There, the trucks were subject to additional random inspections by another inspector, who would make sure the material was not more than 90 minutes old and that the concrete was properly mixed. They would also take samples of the concrete and send them to a special laboratory in South Boston that would further test it.
Such deliveries took place on hundreds of thousands of occasions over the 14 years of heavy construction on the Big Dig.
Raphael Lewis can be reached at rlewis@globe.com. 