7-year-old memo gave Big Dig warning

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-26-big-dig-warning_x.htm

Seven years before falling concrete crushed a motorist to death inside one of Boston's Big Dig tunnels, a safety officer warned that the bolts could not possibly hold the heavy ceiling panels, according to a bluntly worded memo that came to light Wednesday.

John Keaveney wrote the memo in 1999 to one of his superiors at contractor Modern Continental Construction Co., saying he could not "comprehend how this structure can withhold the test of time."

"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," he wrote, according to The Boston Globe, whose reporter was mailed a copy of the memo.

He told the Globe that it was a skeptical third-grade youngster who really caused him to doubt the safety of the tunnel.

<snip>

Keaveney told the Globe that he really began to worry about the ceiling after a third-grade class from his hometown of Norwell came to visit the Big Dig for a tour in 1999. He showed the class some concrete ceiling panels and pointed to the bolts in the ceiling, explaining that the panels would one day hang from those bolts.

A third-grade girl raised her hand and asked him, "Will those things hold up the concrete?"

[Moderator]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2414522