Big Dig lights Out

    Sorry county for the boondoggle/public project we call the Big Dig.  Not only is the Rose Kennedy park that was promised on completion a no go, brackets holding the light fixtures in the tunnel are corroding.   Not to bash the unions involved,  I will mention that this project was way over budget and done by union contractors.  Who is to take responsibility and who was in-charge of purchasing, inspecting, installing, and for that matter, specking the job to make sure people are safe when traveling through the tunnel?

BOSTON -- The Department of Transportation says a corrosion problem could cause lights to fall in the Big Dig tunnels. One light came crashing down a few weeks ago, leading to a thorough investigation.
Drivers heading into the Big Dig tunnel were not too happy to hear about the new trouble from above.
“A little scary when you go through the tunnel,” said one man.
“I think that I don’t want to drive in the tunnel,” said a woman.
“I go through that tunnel several times a day - I’ll have to be looking up,” added a man. “Keep my head up.”
Transportation officials say a big light came crashing down during the morning rush hour five weeks ago, hitting the road between lanes and luckily missing any cars below.
Officials say the 8-foot long, 110 pound lights are clipped to a metal channel that’s been eroding.
“This top piece fell because aluminum rotted away right underneath the steel clip,” said an official.
“This is the actual one and you can see here where the corrosion is and as you look at that clip you can see where it slipped out,” said Jeffrey Mullan, MassDOT.
DOT officials say the inspections have shown problems in just 1.5 percent of the Big Dig’s 23,000 lights. And they say they’ve been able to make sure that no more lights will fall by making sure that the clips are attached to parts of the channel that are secure.