Probers ask if bolts got safety tests
Full inspection of tunnel was set for August
Investigators are examining the possibility that some bolts anchoring the Interstate 90 connector tunnel's ceiling never underwent required safety tests after they were installed in 1999, a federal law enforcement official said yesterday.
According to an internal federal memo, investigators are seeking documents that would show whether Big Dig contractors met requirements that every bolt be tested to make sure they could support the tunnel's massive concrete ceiling panels.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials disclosed yesterday that a top-to-bottom inspection of the I-90 tunnel, including its ceiling, had been scheduled a few weeks too late to catch the series of flawed bolts that investigators believe may have doomed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle, who was killed when the car she was riding in was crushed by falling ceiling panels nine days ago. The inspection was set for August, and state investigators are examining whether it should have happened earlier this year.
Construction crews began installing new, heavy-load-tested anchor bolts yesterday in the I-90 connector ceiling that will reinforce the bolt-and-epoxy fasteners that are the focus of investigators.
The new anchoring system, which uses a different kind of bolt and does not rely on epoxy, passed tests yesterday designed to determine whether they can support the 2 1/2- to 3-ton ceiling panels, state officials said. The successful field tests mean that the South Boston ramp to the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel could reopen next week, the officials said.
As the corrective work began, the US Department of Transportation announced that its inspector general will conduct his own sweeping review of the entire Big Dig project, joining several other criminal and safety investigations underway.
``The more eyes the better," Governor Mitt Romney said after touring the connector tunnel.
The investigations are focusing on the bolt-and-epoxy system used extensively in the I-90 connector tunnel to help support a drop ceiling that created a ventilation passageway. Investigators are trying determine how the bolts securing the ceiling panels failed and whether there were advance warnings that the bolts had problems.
Central to the inquiry are so-called pull tests, in which devices apply to the bolts pressure that exceeds the weight they are designed to support.
The Turnpike Authority and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the engineering management firm that oversaw the Big Dig, were supposed to make sure pull tests were conducted on all of the nearly 13,800 bolts in the I-90 connector, including about 1,150 that were attached using epoxy, a high-strength glue.
Federal investigators are seeking records of those tests.
``We are at [Turnpike Authority] offices searching their records for the test results," Robert Johnson, spokesman for the US Department of Transportation, said late yesterday. ``At present that is 62 boxes of records."
As late as Sunday, federal highway officials said they had not yet received documentation of the test results, according to a memo obtained yesterday by the Globe. The memo, sent by the Federal Highway Administration to agencies involved in investigations, said Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff ``was responsible for insuring the testing was properly conducted."
Andrew Paven, spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, said, ``As we have said, we are fully cooperating with investigators, but given the ongoing investigations, it would be inappropriate to comment publicly."
The testing was to be performed, after the ceiling was installed in 1999, by Modern
``The contract required 100 percent of the bolts to be tested," the memo says.
Some bolts failed those tests in 1999, prompting Modern Continental workers to raise concerns about the ceiling support system. The design firm, Gannett Fleming Inc., persuaded Big Dig officials to install the bolt fixtures anyway, state officials have said.
The I-90 connector tunnel was opened to traffic in January 2003, completing one of the Big Dig's major tunnel networks.
Federal safety guidelines required the Turnpike Authority to inspect the entire tunnel every five years thereafter. But the Turnpike Authority promised bondholders who are financing part of the Big Dig that it would conduct more frequent inspections, every three years, state officials said.
The first of those major inspections was scheduled to begin in August and be completed in October, said Michael Swanson, the Turnpike Authority's chief engineer. ``But due to the tragic events of last week [Turnpike Authority chairman] Matt Amorello ordered that they be done immediately," Swanson said. ``That process began last Tuesday."
Romney said yesterday that the inspection schedule appeared to be inadequate. ``When you have several tons of concrete hanging down above automobiles, you'd expect it to be tested regularly and frequently," he said. ``We are still waiting to hear from the Turnpike Authority what testing they've been doing over the past four years that this section of the tunnel has been in place."
Romney said yesterday that state engineers were installing an electronic system that would conduct daily checks to ensure that the ceiling was securely supported and that the ceiling panels are stable. There will also be some visual inspections, he said.
Nearly every aspect of the $14.6 billion Big Dig, the most costly public works project in US history, is under scrutiny in the aftermath of Del Valle's death.
While Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan are conducting criminal inquiries, the National Transportation Safety Board is trying to determine the cause of the accident. At the request of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, the Transportation Department's inspector general will review the project's infrastructure and oversight. The department's inspector general will also monitor the other ongoing federal and state investigations.
The Transportation Department investigation will work parallel to the Romney administration's ongoing ``stem to stern" look at the entire Big Dig.
Unlike the original bolt system, which relied on epoxy, the new bolts flare out at the end, creating a concrete-embedded anchor. Other bolts will be anchored directly into steel bars in the tunnel ceiling.
State engineers said the new anchor bolts passed pull tests that subjected them to 14,000 pounds of pressure. They will each support about 2,000 pounds of ceiling panel.
The 1999 tests checked whether the bolts could support 6,350 pounds, according to the federal memo.
Rick Klein of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com; Raja Mishra, at rmishra@globe.com. 
