Boston's Big Dig Is No Stranger to Problems

Hundreds of cracked construction nuts have been found within Boston's Big Dig tunnel system. And, this isn't the first problem for the highway project that was completed just a few years ago. 

Highway Administrator Tom Tinlin disclosed Wednesday more than 100,000 nuts have been inspected. Nearly 900 damaged nuts were found in the Ted Williams Tunnel and 49 nuts need to be replaced in the Turnpike Connector Tunnel and the Interstate 93 tunnel.

Earlier this month, a report from the Boston Herald found that even though it's been years since the Big Dig project was declared complete, it's still leaking. The findings also declared that taxpayers are footing a bill that's as high as $7 million per year.

Records show in 2013 and 2014, more than 16-million gallons were pumped out of the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel, the Ted Williams Tunnel and the I-90 Connector.

Turnpike Authority officials knew of thousands of leaks in ceilings and walls as early as 2001. In 2004, a major leak in one of the tunnels forced the closure of the tunnel while repairs were made.

In July 2006, a concrete ceiling panel fell in Boston's Fort Point Channel Tunnel, which connects to the Ted Williams Tunnel. The panel fell on a car, killing a passenger and injuring the driver.

The walkway safety handrails in the Big Dig tunnels were previously dubbed "ginsu guardrails" because they have caused injuries and deaths of passengers ejected from crashed vehicles.

Corrosion in the lighting system for the Big Dig tunnels was another problem that was previously dealt with. In 2011, a crew found a lighting fixture lying in the middle of a lane in the O'Neill tunnel.

The mega project rerouted I-93 into the Ted Williams Tunnel. It also included the construction of the tunnel (extending I-90 to Logan Airport), the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River and the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

The official planning phase started in 1982.

Estimated to cost $3.17 billion in the late 1980s and get completed by 1998, the project wound up costing over $14 billion and wasn't finished until 2007.

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