Latest Big Dig problem to cost $1M to repair

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20120607latest_big_dig_problem_to_cost_1m_to_repair/srvc=news&position=also

Latest Big Dig problem to cost $1M to repair
By Associated Press
Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Added 1 minute ago

BOSTON -- Transportation authorities say the latest flaw discovered in Boston’s $15 billion Big Dig highway project is expected to cost $1 million repair.

Frank DePaola, the state’s highway administrator, says concrete road surfaces in the Central Artery tunnels that were supposed to last 30 years are failing in less than a decade, causing potholes and crumbling road surfaces that must be repaved.

He tells The Boston Globe the problem stems from a decision by the Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff team that oversaw Big Dig design and construction to pave the project with concrete, more common in warmer climates, instead of traditional New England asphalt. That surface concrete is now separating from the structural concrete slabs below it.

DePaola said the problem is a surface issue, not a structural or safety matter.



Read the report from the Office of the Inspector General. Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

A Big Dig Cost Recovery Referral: Paving Mismanagement by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff