Mass. AG Sues Firms Over Boston Tunnel Death

Jason Sandefur

Months after the fatal collapse of concrete ceiling panels in a Boston tunnel, the attorney general of Massachusetts has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the builders of the $15 billion tunnel system and three firms that supplied epoxy or ceiling bolts for the project.\
The suit “focuses on each company”s role in the design, installation and oversight of the epoxy anchor bolt system that failed inside the I-90 connector tunnel,” according to a press release from AG Thomas Reilly.
The lawsuit claims that primary defendants Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and Modern Continental Construction Co. were “grossly negligent” in constructing the heavy concrete ceiling that failed, the Boston Globe reported.
Other defendants named in the suit include epoxy manufacturer Sika Corp., epoxy wholesaler Powers Fasteners, and epoxy distributor Newman, Renner, Colony LLC.
During the July 10 collapse that crushed a 38-year-old woman, “20 epoxy bolts suddenly popped out, releasing several 4,500-pound ceiling panels onto the car in which she was a passenger,” according to the Globe. “The epoxy on some bolts showed signs of premature aging, suggesting that the glue had not been mixed correctly.”
Inspections after the collapse “showed that hundreds of bolts had come loose throughout the connector,” according to the Globe.
Investigators noted that “glue on bolts removed from the tunnel roof near the accident site was brittle and cracked, not like smooth glass as it should have been, indicating that the epoxy potentially lacked sufficient compressive strength, possibly from improper application,” the Globe reported.
Allegations of faulty application techniques, such as using wire screens to apply the epoxy, have surfaced in the months after the incident, which forced more than one tunnel to be closed while repairs were made. Crews reinforced the ceiling with heavy-load-tested embedded anchors that passed 14,000-pound pull tests, according to the Globe.
Insufficient testing could also have played a role in the collapse. Investigators examined test records to see if the contractor performed a required pull test on every bolt. Pull tests were mandated for all of the nearly 13,800 bolts used in that portion of the tunnel system. �2006 FastenerNews.com