The
Ted Williams Tunnel, also known as the Williams Tunnel, is the name of the third highway tunnel under
Boston HarborBoston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
in
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, the
SumnerThe Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End but with the completion of the Big Dig,...
and
Callahan TunnelThe Callahan Tunnel, officially the Lieutenant William F. Callahan Tunnel is one of four tunnels beneath Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries motor vehicles from the North End to Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston...
s being the other two. It connects South Boston with
Logan International AirportGeneral Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
, carrying the final leg of the
Massachusetts TurnpikeThe Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
(
Interstate 90Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...
) under Boston Harbor allowing direct access to
Route 1ARoute 1A is a south–north state highway in Massachusetts. It is an alternate route to U.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent...
in East Boston. The tunnel is named after the former
Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player and
U.S. Marine air corpsUnited States Marine Corps Aviation is the air component of the United States Marine Corps. Marine aviation has a very different mission and operation than its ground counterpart, and thus, has many of its own histories, traditions, terms, and procedures....
veteran
Ted WilliamsTheodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
.
History
The Ted Williams Tunnel (TWT) was the first major link constructed as part of Boston's Big Dig. It is constructed from twelve "binocular" shaped
steelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
sections fabricated in a
BaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
shipyard. These sections were then brought to the Black Falcon Pier near the site and each was fitted with a large surrounding mass of
concreteConcrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
(so that the tunnel section was more neutrally
buoyantIn physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
). Using additional flotation, the tunnel sections were then floated into place, lowered into a dredged channel, and joined to the other sections. At this point, the steel panels sealing the now-joined sections could be cut out and the finishing operations could be completed.
When the TWT opened in 1995 it was only available to authorized commercial traffic. Later, non-commercial traffic was allowed to access the tunnel on weekends and holidays. In 2003, with the substantial completion of the I-90 portion of the Big Dig, the tunnel was opened to all traffic at all times.
The tunnel is 8448 feet (2,575 m) long, of which approximately 3960 feet (1,207 m) are underwater. A
tollA toll tunnel is a special road tunnel whose construction and/or maintenance costs are in part recouped through a toll charged for passing through it. In some instances, tolls have been removed after retirement of the toll revenue bonds issued to raise funds for construction and/or operation of the...
of $3.50 is collected in the westbound direction, and the
Fast LaneFast Lane is the RFID electronic toll collection system used in Massachusetts. Fast Lane is used on the Massachusetts Turnpike, Sumner Tunnel, Ted Williams Tunnel, and Tobin Bridge. It is also accepted at one parking structure operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority...
electronic toll collectionElectronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept...
system is in use. Commercial vehicles, including taxis, pay a toll of $5.25.
Big Dig ceiling collapse
On July 10, 2006 at approximately 11 p.m. four three-ton sections of a concrete drop ceiling inside the I-90 Fort Point Channel tunnel leading to the Ted Williams Tunnel collapsed. A section of ceiling fell on top of a car traveling through the connector tunnel, killing 38-year-old passenger Milena Del Valle and slightly injuring her husband Angel Del Valle, who was driving. The cause of the collapse was later determined to be the failure of adhesives connecting a steel tieback suspending the concrete drop ceiling to the main ceiling above.
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
governor
Mitt RomneyWillard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
ordered the eastbound lanes of the Ted Williams Tunnel to be immediately shut down on July 20 after two ceiling supports showed signs of slippage. At a press conference, Romney stated that "pull tests" were to be conducted in the eastbound tube to test the stress load on the bolt/epoxy system that supports the drop ceiling. An independent contracting firm was to conduct that test. Romney said the shutdown should last "hours, not days." The next morning, the eastbound lanes of the tunnel were opened to MBTA
Silver LineThe Silver Line is the only bus rapid transit line currently operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . It operates in two sections; the first runs from Dudley Square in Roxbury to downtown Boston, Massachusetts and South Station, mostly via Washington Street, with buses...
buses as well as commercial buses running to Logan Airport.
Late in the evening of August 8, I-90 connector ramp A leading to the Ted Williams Tunnel was reopened to general traffic, easing the crunch on Logan Airport traffic coming from the south. Cars heading to the airport northbound on the Southeast Expressway (I-93) would get off at exit 18 and take the South Boston Access (Haul) Road to Ramp A, eliminating the need to go through downtown Boston and U-turn at
Storrow DriveStorrow Drive is a major cross town expressway in Boston, Massachusetts, running south and west from Leverett Circle along the Charles River. It is a parkway—it is restricted to cars; trucks and buses are not permitted on it...
to access the
Callahan TunnelThe Callahan Tunnel, officially the Lieutenant William F. Callahan Tunnel is one of four tunnels beneath Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries motor vehicles from the North End to Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston...
. One eastbound lane of the connector tunnel which collapsed was reopened to traffic on September 1.
See also
- Sumner Tunnel
The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End but with the completion of the Big Dig,...
- Callahan Tunnel
The Callahan Tunnel, officially the Lieutenant William F. Callahan Tunnel is one of four tunnels beneath Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries motor vehicles from the North End to Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston...
- Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
- Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge
The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s, and is the world's widest cable-stayed bridge...
- Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel
The Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel is a highway tunnel built as part of the Big Dig in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries the Central Artery underneath downtown Boston, and is numbered as Interstate 93, U.S. Route 1, and Route 3. It roughly follows the route of the old elevated Central Artery,...
- Big Dig ceiling collapse