Connector ramp to Logan reopens

A key route from the South Shore and South Boston to Logan International Airport reopened late last night, the first major Big Dig ramp to be repaired since the ceiling collapse in the Interstate 90 connector a month ago and subsequent shutdowns of other tunnels.

The opening of Ramp A, connecting D Street in South Boston to the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel, is expected to ease traffic congestion.

But in announcing that news yesterday afternoon, Governor Mitt Romney also disclosed a new safety concern. He said an analysis by state and federal highway engineers showed that steel brackets supporting the concrete ceiling panels in Ramp A failed to meet the project's safety standards, which required them to have the capacity to hold three times the load they support. Engineers determined that the brackets could hold only 2.2 to 2.9 times the load for which they were designed .

``There wasn't any indication of an imminent safety problem," Romney said during an afternoon press conference, adding that the brackets were largely undersized for their rated safety factor.

The problem is unrelated to the systematic epoxy bolt failures that are considered a probable cause of the July 10 cave-in of 10 ceiling panels and that have kept a major portion of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project closed for nearly a month, the governor said.

``This is yet another problem that's been identified with the system that's designed to hold the ceiling panels," Romney said, ``and it indicates a real question mark about who was doing the engineering and oversight in this project."

He said brackets in the I-90 connector will have to be checked to see whether they were designed with an adequate safety margin.

``How is it that Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff did not recognize, as the engineering consortium that was overseeing this project," that the brackets ``were not appropriately sized and that they did not meet the specifications in terms of factor of safety?" Romney said. ``That raises very serious concerns."

Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, declined to comment.

Romney said 23 brackets in Ramp A were replaced Monday night. Federal officials approved the ramp's reopening yesterday, saying in a statement that the ``decision is the result of a thorough inspection of tunnel repairs and the state's implementation of an aggressive plan to monitor the reopened areas."

The ramp gives drivers traveling north on the Southeast Expressway access to the airport through the Ted Williams Tunnel. Traffic to Logan has been routed through the two-lane Callahan Tunnel via detours that were clogging city streets. Only MBTA Silver Line and Logan Express bus service had access to the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel.

To reach the airport, motorists on northbound Interstate 93 will take Exit 18 (Massachusetts Avenue) and follow the South Boston Bypass Road into South Boston, where Ramp A goes underground near the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Drivers using surface roads on the South Boston Waterfront can also reach the ramp and the Ted Williams Tunnel by following detour signs.

``It will be a clean way to get from the south of our Commonwealth to the airport," Romney said. ``This should significantly improve traffic in and around Boston. Now people coming from the south will not have to take a U-turn and use the Callahan Tunnel."

While Ramp A was a tiny portion of the Big Dig closings since last month's accident, its reopening is expected to substantially ease congestion. In addition, Romney said, a ramp leading from the westbound Ted Williams Tunnel to the detour route in South Boston would be widened to two lanes last night, eliminating a key choke point out of Logan.

The opening also will bring back westbound tolls at the Ted Williams Tunnel. Tolls for traffic leaving the airport and entering the tunnel had been waived after the ceiling collapse but will return at midnight tomorrow, Turnpike Authority officials said.

The July 10 accident killed Milena Del Valle, 38, of Jamaica Plain . The I-90 connector was immediately closed, and surrounding tunnels and ramps were later closed, after dozens of ceiling bolts were found to be slipping.

Romney said that he hoped that Ramp D, which connects westbound I-90 to I-93, would open by Labor Day but that repairs in the I-90 connector would take much longer.

The latest problem involves brackets used to connect the dropped ceiling to the roof of the ramp. Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation, said that the brackets were never physically tested to determine their weight-bearing limits, but that engineers performed weight calculations for the entire ceiling support system in Ramp A based on engineering drawings and an inspection.