It looks as though Revere motorists’ commute from Downtown will get a whole lot easier starting next Wednesday.
The Callahan Tunnel, which has been closed since late December, will reopen on Wednesday, March 12.
While the headache of trying to find another way home from Boston for close to three months was beginning to wear on many residents, the good news is it will be a thing of the past next week and we can go back to zipping home during the evening commute.
Kudos to MassDOT’s John Romano and his team for keeping the community here in Eastie abreast of any situations as construction on the tunnel progressed.
Throughout the project Romano remained accessible, answered emails and phone calls in a timely fashion and MassDOT’s mailing list and routes map was a big help.
The tunnel closure by MassDOT was to complete a $34.9 million project to rehab the 52-year old tunnel’s deck, curb line, gutters and replace the tunnel’s wall panels.
After removing 117 wall panels from the Callahan Tunnel in December 2013 and an additional two-dozen panels from the adjoining Sumner Tunnel, MassDOT decided to remove all 2,400 panels from the Callahan.
The removal of the panels came after a 100 lb. wall panel in the tunnel fell off the wall of the tunnel and landed in the road. The panels, which date back to the 1990s, are 9 ft. by 4 ft. and replaced older panels in order to give the tunnel a better look and reflect light for improved visibility in the tunnel for motorists.
After the panel fell, MassDOT was forced to shut down the Callahan so inspectors could perform a ‘pull test’ on the panels that line the tunnel.
After the inspections it was found that 117 panels did not pass the pull test and had to be removed. MassDOT officials said the framing holding the panels in place had corroded.
