After applauding the work that went into reopening the Sumner Tunnel on time after an eight-week closure this summer time, MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver supplied the touring public a stark reminder.
“Our job is not done yet,” Gulliver informed the company’s Board of Directors on Wednesday. “This year was all about the ceiling portion of the tunnel. Next year, it’ll be about the driving surface or deck, if you will, of the tunnel.”
Before summer time 2024 arrives, drivers will face a collection of weekend closures by the tip of this calendar 12 months as work continues contained in the Sumner, and contractors put together for subsequent season.
The tunnel shut down final Friday night time at 11 earlier than reopening by 5 a.m. Monday, the primary of eight weekend closures which is able to proceed this week and subsequent. There shall be a two-week break earlier than they resume the weekends of Oct. 20 and 27, and Nov. 3 and 10.
The eighth closure has not been scheduled.
Drivers who depend on the Sumner Tunnel to get to Boston’s Logan International Airport are additionally feeling the brunt of an ongoing roadways mission on the airport, impacting passengers touring to Terminals B, C and E.
Officials are urging departing passengers to plan for additional time if driving to the airport or utilizing transit to get to and from Logan, with the roadway development requiring detours, inflicting backups on different roadways.
The Logan mission appears to be like to enhance the present roadway system in an try to get rid of backups and improve the passenger pickup and drop off course of by changing ageing infrastructure alongside each ranges between the terminals, officers say.
Detours have been in place for the previous week and are anticipated to be lifted by Monday, with minor work lasting till November, when the mission wraps up.
To assist ease site visitors congestion, the Massport Board of Directors on Thursday permitted the continuation of bus companies carried out through the Sumner Tunnel closure this summer time, when officers urged the general public to “ditch the drive.”
That means there shall be a further shuttle bus working from the Wonderland T station to the airport earlier than practice service begins within the morning, and Logan staff can use the storage there for parking.
“Getting more passengers and Logan employees to use transit modes to and from the airport is important to decrease congestion and reduce emissions,” a Massport spokesperson informed the Herald.
As for the $160 million Sumner mission, officers count on subsequent 12 months’s work to incorporate two inches of highway being changed with new concrete and asphalt. Weekend closures are anticipated after that work which is able to shutter the tunnel in July and August, mirroring this summer time’s schedule.
Once absolutely full, officers say they don’t anticipate the tunnel needing one other main rehab for at the very least the subsequent 50 years.
“We are working with a contractor to, again, really take a hard look at the scope of work and the approach to work so that we can minimize impacts as much as possible,” Gulliver mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”