Williams connector reopening is delayed

State officials have once again pushed back the timeline for the opening of a key ramp that would allow traffic from South Boston access to Logan International Airport via the Ted Williams Tunnel.

Ramp A, the eastbound tunnel leading from South Boston into the Ted Williams Tunnel , will not open today and could remain closed for at least two more weeks.

``As we stated before, timelines have always been fluid," said Jon Carlisle , spokesman for the Massachusetts Highway Department.

Governor Mitt Romney had said on July 16 that Ramp A might be open as early as today. But officials said the state later revamped plans to repair Ramp A to address another concern: last Thursday's finding that several bolts that attach concrete panels to the ceiling of the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel had loosened.

The condition of those bolts -- which have since been repaired -- too closely resembled the situation officials believe led to the July 10 ceiling collapse that killed Milena Del Valle as she and her husband traveled in the Interstate 90 connector.

Carlisle said plans for the repair of the ceiling panels hanging over Ramp A have yet to be approved.

Ramp A is a popular access point for travelers headed to the airport. Without that access point, drivers have to travel on surface streets to downtown Boston, where they must use the Callahan Tunnel to reach the airport. The westbound Ted Williams Tunnel is open, but drivers must exit at Exit 25, which leads to South Boston. From there, drivers can take side streets to return to Interstate 93 north and south and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Ramp A was closed following Del Valle's death because authorities at the time were not sure whether the ceiling panels suspended above the roadway on the ramp were solidly connected. The ceiling panels that hang over the roadways in the tunnel system are used to improve the flow of fresh air in case of an emergency.

The state is working with the Federal Highway Administration on plans for bolstering the ceiling panels. The agency, which is paying for some of the repairs, has yet to sign off on a new design, Carlisle said.

``We're working very closely with them to ensure that as many sets of eyes see this as possible," said Carlisle. ``They had requested that we run all the information by them."

The current ceiling panel system uses an epoxy to hold the bolts in place; the bolts suspend the ceiling panels. That system failed when a 3-ton panel came loose and crushed the car Del Valle was in, and it will not be used in repairs, officials have said.

Instead, for Ramp A, two other methods are under consideration: an ``undercut anchor bolt or the steel-to-steel connection," said Carlisle. The steel-to-steel connection is possible in Ramp A because the construction there already includes a steel beam embedded into the ceiling of the structure. That embedded steel could be used as an anchor for the ceiling panels.

Another potential timing problem for Ramp A is whether construction workers will have to cut through the rebar that reinforces the concrete. Cutting though the rebar will not endanger the structure, but it will add more time to the job, said Carlisle.

``The fixes depend very much on if you encounter rebar when you're drilling the locations of the undercut anchor bolt," said Carlisle. ``We hope to get started on construction on Ramp A by early next week. But there's a strong caveat that we have to make sure that our proposal gets approved by all the appropriate people."

Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com.