Monday's Big Dig tunnel tragedy in Boston bears several similarities to falling concrete in a highway tunnel in Fall River.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER
Journal Staff Writer

Monday's Big Dig tunnel tragedy in Boston bears several similarities to a tunnel collapse in Fall River in 1999.

On March 3 that year, several two-ton ceiling tiles fell from the roof of the tunnel that carries Route 195 under Fall River's city hall. Yesterday's collapse involved concrete ceiling tiles weighing three tons each.

In both tunnels, the tiles were bolted to the structures above them.

In Fall River, decades of neglect and lack of inspection allowed corrosion to weaken the metal holding up the giant tiles. In the aftermath, state officials said they had not inspected the tunnel ceiling under city hall because they thought the city was supposed to. City officials said they thought it was a state responsibility.

In Boston, preliminary investigations have also blamed the metal supports for allowing the tiles to fall, though the specific cause has not been identified. Decades of neglect can be ruled out, though, because the ceiling was installed in 1999.

Both collapses caused the closing of the interstate highways running through them and resulting traffic headaches.

Although the two tunnels are under the control of two separate state agencies, the same man was at the head of each at the time of the tunnel collapses. Matthew J. Amorello was state highway commissioner when the Fall River tunnel failed. Today, he is chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which has managed construction of the Big Dig highway project that includes several tunnels and a signature cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River.

A major difference in the two disasters is that Fall River's was not fatal.

A Boston woman was crushed to death by falling concrete around 11 p.m. Monday while driving to Logan Airport to pick up relatives.

In Fall River, the concrete dropped in front of a minivan carrying a family of four from Fall River at about 5 p.m. The van struck the debris and did an airborne barrel roll, landing on its roof before sliding into a car that had stopped. Four other vehicles were involved in crashes as drivers tried to avoid the rubble. A total of seven people, including the family of four, were taken to the hospital, but released that night.

The Fall River tunnel was closed in both directions for two days, when a single westbound lane reopened. It was almost a week before traffic was resumed in both directions. The ceiling tiles have not been replaced.

pparker@projo.com / (401) 277-7360