J.W. White constructs bulkheads for flow fill placement — East Boston Side. (Photo courtesy of J.W. White Contracting)
The restoration of the Boston Sumner Tunnel, which carries traffic under the Boston Harbor, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston, began in February and is scheduled for completion in January 2024.
The Sumner Tunnel was built in the 1930s and is the first traffic tunnel in Massachusetts and one of the oldest in the nation.
"The Sumner Tunnel is well beyond patches and repairs: the only way to keep it in service is with a top-to-bottom restoration," the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said. "Corrosion and wear-and-tear have deeply impacted wall panels and gutters. There's exposed rebar on the ceiling, and even after resurfacing, pavement conditions are poor."
J.W. White Contracting of Framingham, Mass., is the lead contractor on the project that has a budget of $156 million that will be paid for by state and federal funding.
Chris Blanchard, a J.W. White project manager, said preliminary work has been completed, including removal of existing wall panels, installation of temporary lighting, access openings and formwork for pending concrete flow materials at existing ducts under box sections. The company is now making concrete wall repairs and removing and relocating utilities.
MassDOT reported that the project will repair chipped and crumbling concrete, rusted reinforcements, cracked wall panels, broken light fixtures and deteriorating roadway surfaces. It also will restore the overhead arch and ceiling, paint interior tunnel walls, add fireproof boards, install new lights inside the tunnel and install new utility conduits and cables.
The construction firm is required to use dust control measures during work, including the use of wetting agents, secure covers for trucks and minimizing storage of debris on site.
Accelerated techniques and materials, such as offsite prefabrication and high-performance concrete, will be used to accelerate construction. The design-build approach provides financial incentives for the construction firm to finish the work on time or sooner and penalizes them for delayed timelines.
The construction equipment J.W. White is using on the project includes a Bobcat skid steer, Ingersoll Rand air compressors, Honda generators and a water buffalo, which is a water wagon that stores and transports water.
"The original length of the full tunnel closure was seven months," said MassDOT. "The current construction plan entails accelerated construction techniques and work taking place 24/7 inside the tunnel. This allowed us to shorten the full tunnel closure to only four months with 36 weekend closures leading up to the full closure and 12 weekend closures following it. By coordinating a four-month full tunnel shutdown, we are avoiding 40 individual weekend shutdowns. This helped us to shorten the construction timeline by 10 months."
The subcontractors on the project include K. DaPonte Construction Corp., Fall River, Mass.; Taibbi Equipment Corp., Wakefield, Mass.; Patriot Traffic, Braintree, Mass.; Eastwind Corp., Stoughton, Mass.; and Todisco Towing, Boston.
"This restoration will provide many public benefits including improved tunnel safety, a smoother, more durable roadway surface, new lighting and security systems and better cell phone, GPS and radio service inside the tunnel," MassDOT said. "With this work, we expect to keep the Sumner Tunnel in service for another century or more." CEG
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