Thankfully not forever. But they need to inspect it because a wall panel fell on the lanes Friday evening, and it'll be closed for the overnight hours--from 9 pm this evening to 5 am tomorrow. People are advised to use the Ted Williams Tunnel (U-Turn via exit 18 where my mom missed said U-Turn last night, lol). The panels will be replaced in 2014 for a renovation. Interesting...
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/12/22/callahan-tunnel-close-sunday-for-panel-inspection/Gg4xPNJBzEtlej8D5MsrvL/story.html
This is the latest in a long line of mistakes that MassDOT has ignored for way too long. They only fix the issue when someone gets hurt. Just ask the family of Mellina DelValie how she's doing. And the replacement of these tiles won't be until 2014?
It's like I say when I leave Alewife T Station to get back on Route 2 West after work. "Hopefully I don't die this time." Richard Davey's new MassDOT slogan "We just don't have it!"
They redid the wall treatments on the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels in the early 1990s. IMO, while the older tiles needed renewal, the total replacement of the tiles with the larger panels was done for mostly asthetic reasons.
I don't remember who the contractor for this work was, but the installation of the new wall panels was totally unrelated to the Big Dig construction. Although it's interesting that they went with "conventional" tile treatments, as opposed to the wall panels, in both the Williams Tunnel and the Big Dig tunnels, so I doubt cost was a rationale for using the panels in the Sumner and Callahan rehab projects.
To follow up on the tunnel closure. MassDOT found many more defective panels and removed them from the Callahan. They also closed the Sumner Tunnel and performed the same check and removed many panels from there too.
Now MassDOT says it is going to remove all the panels in the Callahan to avoid having to close the tunnel frequently to check whether the remaining ones are still safe. Story here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/01/17/wall-panels-removed-from-boston-callahan-tunnel/lmbSMLUYzVONz296UtQtzH/story.html (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/01/17/wall-panels-removed-from-boston-callahan-tunnel/lmbSMLUYzVONz296UtQtzH/story.html)