BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Transportation officials have revealed there's a massive sinkhole under the I-90 connector tunnel.
Officials say the gap is at least four-feet deep, up to 190-feet long and is nine feet under the roadway.
The Department of Transportation insists the road is still safe and expects to spend at least $15 million to repair the problem, but they have to wait until the soil stops settling. That won't happen until late 2013 or 2014.
But Congressman Steven Lynch is calling for a full investigation into the sinkhole.
"I know they're saying the public is not at risk, but I would want to look deeply into that and try and find out structurally what the problem is.,” he told FOX 25. “I don't want to have someone come up and just glibly say there's no threat to the public. I would want to have a full investigation a full analysis of what the problem has been."
State transportation spokesman tells FOX 25 engineers knew about this when the tunnels were designed several years ago, because they had to freeze the soil and knew it would settle.
The soil is not thawing as quickly as they predicted and continues to settle. Now, engineers must wait until the soil stops settling before they can make repairs.
Even though transportation officials insist the tunnels are safe, Lynch tells FOX 25 the area in question has a "honeycomb" of tunnels.
"I have some real concerns,” he said. “Until I hear from an impartial engineer that the situation is safe there, so I think it bears watching."
Earlier this year, the transportation department came under fire when corrosion caused a 110-pound light fixture to fall from one of the tunnel ceilings. The public was not notified of the problem until weeks after the incident.
In 2006, a Jamaica Plain woman was killed in the same section of the tunnel as the latest sinkhole problems. Milena Del Valle died when a part of the I-90 connector collapsed, sending a three-ton slab of concrete on top of her car.
Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/more-troubles-for-the-big-dig-20110811#ixzz1UpXkMaxQ
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