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services chronicle book The gushing
and fawning by Boston columnists over how quickly Governor Mitt Romney mastered
the nuts and bolts of Big Dig information is frightening. I think his new found
leadership is a diversion. In a slick show of control over the Central Artery
Tunnel fiasco Mitt commands respect with a flick of his magic pointer. The
media swoon. It looks like a Boston rendition of Chicago Bechtel as Roxie Hart
kept safe and comfy in the lap of master puppeteer Mitt Romney playing Billy
Flynn. Nice guy cute guy downright lovable when he is home pretending he cares
great song and dance man but there is more going on here than screwing in
anchor bolts. Much harder questions need to be asked and investigated by the
local media and by independent safety engineers to assure that no more 3-ton
ceiling slabs land on commuters or travelers. But as with any good magic show
Mitt has all eyes trained on the anchor bolts while he tries to convince the
public jury that the real fault lies with Matt Amarillo and that Bechtel should
be free to just walk out the door. Just when we thought it was going to be safe
to go back in the Central Artery Tunnels in Boston the Governor let us know
that more anchor bolts were faulty in several lanes of I-90 and perhaps in more
tunnels. One of the problems with listening to Governor Romney Turnpike Chair
Matt Amarillo or most CA/T predecessors is that they are lawyers and
businessmen not engineers. So take a minute during Mitts Magic Show to visit
the CA/T with my tunnel vision because something does not smell right. Even
though the laser light is dazzling and the hard hat adds such charm. Im not
ready to clear the deck of the Super Scoop barge for a decisive victory
photo-op. First take a really close look at the failed epoxy holding the anchor
bolts that suspend the 3-ton concrete ceiling panels. Here are some of the easy
to follow instructions for construction workers regarding epoxy- Prior to
application all areas must be free of contamination such as waxes oils loose
concrete dirt curing compounds etc. Acid
etching followed by proper neutralization and rinsing is usually acceptable if
the concrete is in excellent condition not contaminated. (emphasis mine). Drum Roll-Mitt shines a
laser light into the dark tunnel and we hear the ooows and ahhhs over the new
shiny anchor bolts and a slight of hand trick begins. Will the rabbit now stay
in the hole or pop out of the hard hat? Wake up. Remove your gaze from the anchor
bolts and focus on the other end of the suspension rods within the ceiling
panels themselves. We see a concrete ceiling with newly tightened anchor bolts
on the top and steel cable rods embedded in 3-ton concrete slabs suspended
beneath on the other end of the cable.
No steel beams exist in the I-90 connector to create the desirable
steel-bolted-to-steel infrastructure. So any suspended cable will only behave
as well as the concrete on either end allows it to behave. If I put an anchor
bolt in a wad of silly putty and hang a rod embedded in 5 lbs. of modeling clay
from it…well its hanging there with a limited lifespan I dont care how new the
anchor bolt might be. Anchor bolts will mean very little if this construction
mess in downtown Boston is the result of mixing contaminated dirt and fill into
the composition of the concrete ceiling walls or floor. Here is how the trick
might have been done (1) While most eyes follow the light and focus on anchor
bolts our current investigation shows that there is a global demand for
recycled construction products. This demand has increased substantially during
the past two decades. The Big Dig produced over 4000 miles and over 11 million
cubic feet of dirt in the early digging stages. Most of this dirt and debris was
processed for contamination and recycled into the Big Dig as clay landfill
capping material project backfill and as aggregate (mix) for the tons and tons
of concrete needed for the project. The miles of extra dirt came from the
demolition at the airport the dredging of the harbor floor by the Super Scoop
for the Ted Williams Tunnel the digging of the coffer dam excavation of miles
underneath downtown Boston for the Tip ONeil Tunnel digging out tunnel
entrances etc. In Big Dig II Down Under co-producer Arnie Reisman and I
investigated this dirt and decided to follow the good news. The uncontaminated
clay portions of this fill were going to be used to cap Spectacle Island and
hundreds of Massachusetts landfills an appropriate reuse of heavier clay
materials. We were assured that there was a dirt-testing lab and that all of
the contaminated soil was being properly distributed and reviewed by the
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). We were handed stacks of
literature interagency agreements regarding contaminated materials and many
many press releases about the massive volume of dirt being tested and
processed. Occasionally there was other good news on the disposition of the
dirt. There were mountains of dirt and any disposition was cause for celebration.
After all any unused dirt was going to cost the project and the managers big
money for disposal. (2) Digging back through my Big Dig materials I unearthed a
1992 Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Environmental
Protection and the Massachusetts Highway Department about the contaminated
materials in the soil. This addressed the process for oversight and inspections
of the dirt for specific chemicals contaminating the soil that are harmful to
humans and wildlife. Of course those employees at the state DEP who were
overseeing the process with the Big Dig were salaried by the Massachusetts
Highway Department and the Central Artery Tunnel Project. We wont even begin to
examine that closet. Why? Because right now we are trying to figure out the
rabbit in the hat for Mitts Magic Show about the anchor bolts. (3) During
construction there seemed to be an ongoing safety process regarding the
concrete. Footage in Big Dig IV Still Working contained a segment on the
concrete testing process that was overseen by the Joint Venture of Bechtel and
the Massachusetts Highway Department. This footage will soon be available at
our web site PolarisProduction.com where we will also uncover what we consider
to be the design change that is causing continuous leaks in the I-93 tunnel.
This past winter a small Big Dig contractor was accused and indicted for
allegedly mixing too much old concrete in with new concrete to create a
substandard mix that may be contributing to some leaks in the I-93 tunnel
underneath Boston. This was a red flag that something may be NOT O.K. with at
least some of the concrete but no one really noticed. (4) By looking carefully
at the Memorandum of Agreement it is obvious that the chemical contaminants in
the DEP agreement are not the same chemical contaminants that can be harmful to
the strength of the concrete or to the tendency of certain chemical
contaminants to corrode embedded steel.
When certain chemicals are present in the sand and soil used as the
aggregate or the mixing soil that is added to cement to make concrete they can
weaken or affect other properties of the concrete. These effects may happen
over time and consequently may not be detected using temperature and slump
tests on the not-yet-hardened concrete. The Joint Venture (the state and
Bechtel) was required to sample portions of the concrete in all Big Dig
contracts for strength. If the aggregate used to make this same concrete
contained chemical contaminants that do not affect concrete strength but can
corrode steel fittings rapidly how would we know? Well obviously we check the
standards right? That way we always mix in aggregate that does not contaminate
the concrete in ways that can be disastrous. When I looked for national
standards on chemical contaminants and concrete mix I found only an early
attempt in Australia (1994-1996) to develop such construction standards for
recycled material used in concrete construction. Many more Internet references
attested to a lack of the type of precise testing over time that could lead to
such standards. Perhaps the CA/T was following a set of engineering standards
of which I am not aware. Of greatest concern is for the public to be informed
about which chemical contaminates can affect the strength and durability of the
concrete and which were present in what percentages in the recycled fill used
throughout the CA/T tunnels. It is particularly important that an independent
evaluation team makes a thorough investigation of the chemical properties of
the recycled aggregate soil used throughout the project. This could help to
identify areas that can be expected to have premature corrosion of steel rods
embedded in concrete or that cause the concrete to expand or crumble or leak.
So 12 years of Republican controlled reassurances that the harmful soil was
being disposed of properly failed to explain to us that the tests were only for
the chemicals and soil properties directly dangerous to humans for example
piles of dirt that contained mercury. The tests and press releases from the
CA/T in 1991-1995 did not describe the concentrations of chemical contaminants
in fill that could cause premature collapse of the tunnel ceiling or walls from
faulty concrete. We have those listed on our web site at our web site
PolarisProduction.com . We would appreciate hearing from any students engineers
or chemical engineers who can provide clarification on this matter. We will
post your information and we will post any established standards for
contaminates used in concrete aggregates along with any standards used by the
CA/T in disposition of the dirt back into the Artery construction. While we
will continue to investigate this potential concrete catastrophe and review the
documents and tapes at our disposal someone with far greater resources like the
mainstream media needs to examine the CA/T deals made with contractors. How
much of the previously used dirt and debris from demolition dredged or
excavated material were each of these contractors required to reuse in their
concrete? Was it tested for the road salts and other contaminants that may not
be immediately harmful to people and therefore ruled usable by the DEP? Were
those contaminates in sufficient quantity to pose problems as a concrete
aggregate? Does the effort to get rid of over 4000 miles of soil through recycling
and to save money or make money from disposal of the fill now threaten our
lives when we drive through 3.8 million cubic feet of weakened or corrosive
concrete? Our future could depend upon understanding the nature of these
man-made caverns before the Big Dig becomes the Big Tomb. Remember look beyond
Mitts Magic Show to see how this rabbit was stuffed into the hole in the first
place. Next we look at the design change that may be the primary cause of I-93
tunnel leaks. banking
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