I-90 connector west opens

Drivers returning from Logan International Airport got an early Christmas present yesterday after federal officials approved the reopening of the westbound lanes of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel late Saturday, ending a five-month closure for repairs that followed a fatal ceiling collapse.

A $34 million tunnel repair job, which included more than 50,000 new bolts to shore up the shaky ceiling, is now virtually complete, with only a single lane and connecting ramp of the eastbound side of the tunnel still closed, state officials said. State Transportation Secretary John Cogliano has asked the Federal Highway Administration to permit the reopening of the eastbound lane as well, which would end detours for drivers approaching the connector from the northbound lane of Interstate 93.

"It's good to get westbound open," Cogliano's spokesman, Jon Carlisle , said yesterday. "We're moving forward,"

The July 10 collapse of the concrete ceiling killed a Jamaica Plain mother of three and triggered a criminal investigation into whether design, materials, or workmanship on the tunnel was so shoddy that Milena Del Valle's death constituted an act of manslaughter. In addition, her family, as well as Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly , have filed civil lawsuits against many of the companies involved in the tunnel ceiling project.

For drivers, the accident caused delays going to and from the airport while crews installed stronger ceiling bolts in the mile long tunnel and tested the ceiling's strength to make sure it would not collapse again. In recent months, other ramps and lanes of the connector tunnel had reopened, but the westbound lane, used by 16,000 vehicles a day leaving the airport, remained closed until Saturday night about 11 p.m.

Work crews for J.F. White and McCourt Construction had essentially completed repairs in the westbound lane more than two weeks ago, Carlisle said, but the state still needed the Federal Highway Administration to conduct its safety review before the public could enter. Federal investigators have insisted that the ceiling meet more than a dozen conditions for reopening, including strengthening of the ceiling bolts and additional supports to prevent the ceiling from caving in during an earthquake.

Carlisle said the re opened tunnel 's ceiling has dramatically better support than before the accident. The epoxy bolts, which were held in place by a kind of superglue, have all been removed or replaced by more durable bolts. In many places, repair crews have installed five ceiling bolts where there had previously been two.

Scott Allen can be reached at allen@globe.com.