The on-site safety officer for the Interstate 90 connector–one of Boston’s Big Dig tunnels–warned his superiors at contractor Modern Continental Construction Co. that the tunnel ceiling could collapse because the bolts could not support the heavy concrete panels
John Keaveney also wrote that he feared for his conscience if someone died as a result.
In a two-page memo sent in 1999 to Robert Coutts, senior project manager for Modern Continental, Keaveney said he could not “comprehend how this structure can [withstand] the test of time.”
He added: “Should any innocent State Worker or member of the Public be seriously injured or even worse killed as a result, I feel that this would be something that would reflect Mentally and Emotionally upon me, and all who are trying to construct a quality Project.”
Keaveney said this week that after he raised the concern, his superiors at Modern Continental, the company then building the tunnel, and representatives from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the private sector manager of the Big Dig, sought to reassure him. They told him that such a system had been tested and was proven to work.
He said Coutts told him, “`John, this is a tried and true method.'” He also raised the concern later in person with Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff officials, but they said they were doing the work to design specifications and that the ceiling would hold.
Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, declined to comment. A Modern Continental spokesman referred to an earlier statement in which the company said it was cooperating fully and was confident the work complied with plans and specifications.
Coutts was on vacation and unavailable, a family member said.
Keaveney’s memo, written May 17, 1999, while the ceiling was being installed, almost eerily foretells the collapse that crushed Milena Del Valle to death on July 10.
Keaveney’s disclosure “really made me feel a little ill,” Gov. Mitt Romney said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. “You shake your head and say, `Gosh, why didn’t anybody go in there, particularly knowing the kind of information that was in those memos in the past?'”
Investigations launched after Del Valle’s death are increasingly focused on the bolt-and-epoxy system and why concrete panels weighing up to 2,800 pounds were hung from the ceiling bolts without reinforcement.
Keaveney’s memo is the strongest evidence that the contractor on the I-90 project was given specific warning of the risks of the ceiling system.
He wrote in the memo that the amount of weight being suspended from the ceiling appeared to be “excessive,” given that the bolts were “only inserted into concrete with epoxy.”
He also said he observed water dripping down out of the holes that construction workers drilled before the epoxy and bolts were inserted. Given the water pressure on the tunnel ceiling, he asked whether the epoxy would hold. “I question whether the epoxy is suitable for a wet environment and how long can it withstand that force?” he wrote.
In the memo, he also noted that the bolts and tiebacks were “exposed to the elements” before their installation, having sat on pallets, and appeared to have signs of rust.
Keaveney, 43, has had a long career in construction and is now safety officer for Shawmut Design and Construction, based in Boston.
His letter was mailed to a Globe reporter without Keaveney’s knowledge. He verified it was his letter.
He said he really began to worry about the ceiling after a 3rd-grade class from his hometown of Norwell came to visit the Big Dig for a tour in spring 1999. He showed the class some concrete ceiling panels and pointed to the bolts protruding from the ceiling, explaining that the panels would one day hang from those bolts.
A 3rd-grade girl raised her hand and asked him, “Will those things hold up the concrete?”
He started voicing concerns among his colleagues and then to managers after that. “It was like the [3rd-graders] had pointed out the emperor has no clothes,” he said. “I said, `Yes, it would hold,’ but then I thought about it.”
