MBTA: SUFFOLK TO BLAME
Alleges falling concrete caused by construction
One of the city’s largest developers violated a construction agreement with the MBTA and sent concrete falling to the floor of the Silver Line’s World Trade Center station, officials said.
And a government watchdog is calling for more oversight of agreements regulating construction near T sites, fearing the potential for injury and death similar to past mishaps in Boston tunnels.
MBTA General Manager Luis Ramirez told the T’s Fiscal Management and Control Board yesterday that last week’s ceiling emergency that shut the World Trade Center station for a day was caused by construction work, with T officials confirming Suffolk Construction, which is working on the 23-story Waterside luxury dwelling on Congress Street, was responsible.
Developers building within 30 feet of MBTA property must sign a license agreement with the agency that regulates what kind of equipment will be used and what kind of work will take place at the site, and must survey conditions before starting construction, Ramirez said. That initial survey did not indicate any areas of concern, he said, but Suffolk went beyond the agreement’s scope. Suffolk did not return multiple requests for comment.
“The developer performed work which exceeded specified engineering tolerances and this resulted in minor spalling (cracking) in the top concrete column. That spalling caused a small amount of concrete debris to fall,” Ramirez told the board. “The damage was localized in one area of the column, the structural integrity of the station is intact.”
Ramirez said Suffolk is creating a new work plan that must be approved by the MBTA before they resume construction near the station. T officials said engineers check the tunnels on a monthly basis and Ramirez said the MBTA’s inspection process did not need to be updated for areas like the Seaport that are seeing heavy construction over subway infrastructure.
“We perform routine maintenance and routine inspections on all of our tunnels on a normal basis,” Ramirez said after the meeting, saying T engineers saw the concrete collapse immediately.
T officials did not provide a copy of Suffolk’s license agreement or the number of license agreements currently in effect with developers.
Greg Sullivan, research director at the Pioneer Institute and former state Inspector General, said the MBTA should re-examine the entire licensing-agreement process.
“We’ve had a lot of bad history with ceilings collapsing and transportation projects in Boston; it’s very concerning that the Silver Line had concrete falling during commuting time,” Sullivan said. “A review should also look at whether officials took sufficient care in drawing up the licensing agreement to monitor the facility and be safe.”