October 09, 2007
Tiny dribbles

I may be on a hiatus but sometimes I've just gotta rant, and where better to do so than on this here bloggity bloog.

First, the good news. Today the Sumner Tunnel had both lanes open after two weeks of construction that had it down to one lane (causing all sorts of ruckus, commuter-wise, but that's to be expected I suppose). But today, no ruckus. Traffic flowed smoothly through the two lanes and I was curious to see what two weeks of daytime repairs, after a couple of months of night-time closures for repairs, had wrought.

Which leads me to the stupid news. For the three-plus years I've been commuting daily through the Sumner Tunnel from East Boston, there has always been one spot, close to the end of the tunnel, where my car always gets hit with a big splootch or three of water dripping from the tunnel ceiling. It happens every time, so it can't be a very slow drip, and there's always a puddle on the floor at that spot, too, so it can't have been too difficult for the work-crews to identify it as a spot with a leak.

So, today, when I saw the tunnel had reopened after all this repair work, I was kind of excited to drive through it and NOT get splootches of water all over my windshield. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what happened, right?

Let's just say that the person in the convertible in front of me had some mopping up to do when he got through the Sumner this morning.

I'm so glad to see that this job has apparently been done with about as much success as just about every other construction project in and around our fair city.

Posted by cynical at October 09, 2007 03:42 PM
Comments

On the other hand, at least one can drive through the Sumner and/or Callahan Tunnels and not wonder if 10 tons of concrete are about to fall on one's head.

The same cannot be said for other tunnels whose names will go unmentioned.

Posted by: Brian on October 9, 2007 06:50 PM

So is your rant that the convertible got your splootch? :)

Posted by: Karan James on October 9, 2007 10:07 PM

... not wonder if 10 tons of concrete are about to fall on one’s head.

The same cannot be said for other tunnels whose names will go unmentioned

Would that be “The Chicken Little”?

Posted by: Michael Maggard on October 10, 2007 12:18 AM

Brian: You are so right, and I am grateful for that every single day as I go through each of them.

Karan: I got my share of the splootch, too, never you fear. Just not on my upholstery.

Michael: Ha!

Posted by: cynical on October 10, 2007 02:01 PM

Were you able to see whether any actual repair work was done to justify creating the commuter ruckus, or were they perhaps just assessing what work would be done by an actual tunnel repair crew?

Posted by: Tony on October 12, 2007 02:33 PM

"our fair city"

This blog post brought to you by Dewey Cheatem and Howe, as heard on Car Talk with Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers.

Posted by: Linkmeister on October 14, 2007 02:49 AM

Tony: Yes - there does appear to have been some work done and, to be fair, the project was intended to repair some areas where the ceiling was crumbling down, not to seal leaks. BUT - how can you ignore a big fat leak while you're working on something (crumbling concrete) that, arguably, is only worsened with water damage?

Linky: Thanks for noticing and apologies for the lack of attribution. I am a big Car Talk fan. :-D

Posted by: cynical on October 15, 2007 11:39 AM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELLEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Posted by: TJ on October 17, 2007 11:39 AM
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