Skip to main content

MassDOT to add signs around Sumner Tunnel after uptick in over height truck incidents

Image
By

Crews will soon add new signs around the Sumner Tunnel in Boston after an uptick in incidents of over height trucks getting stuck in the tunnel.

The state Department of Transportation announced the move on Monday. In addition to new signs, MassDOT said crews will also retrofit chains on existing signs “to warn drivers of the tunnel clearance.”

“Safety is our number one priority when it comes to drivers on our highways,” said state Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt in a statement. “We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to limit truck incidents from happening as well as reducing the delays associated with these incidents.”

Officials on Monday said there had been at least three over-height trucks removed from the Sumner Tunnel over the past week. 

On Thursday of last week, video shared with 7NEWS showed one truck entering the tunnel before getting stuck.

Earlier this month, on April 5, video inside the tunnel captured the moment a truck got wedged under the low ceiling.

As officials work to curb the over height truck incidents, highway crews will install “variable message signs” to broadcast alternate routes to truckers needing to access I-93 northbound and southbound. 

MassDOT said highway officials are in the process of obtaining a “smart roadways virtual sign network,” which will use GPS and wireless technology to send specific messages directly to truck cabs. MassDOT said crews will also install new low clearance signs at tunnel entrances. 

State Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said officials “are committed to working with the trucking community to help respond to recent events.”

“Having additional signage as well as the utilization of new technology at key points around the Sumner Tunnel will go a long way in ensuring that we are doing our part to keep both travelers and our infrastructure safe,” Gulliver continued.

The Sumner Tunnel and the neighboring Callahan Tunnel both have height limits of 12’6”. The Tip O’Neill Tunnel and the Ted Williams Tunnel elsewhere in Boston have limits of 13’6”

Efforts to increase signage around the Sumner Tunnel come as crews continue a larger restoration project within the nearly 90-year-old tunnel. 

The restoration project began in 2022 and is expected to continue through much of 2024, with periodic tunnel closures scheduled throughout the year. 

New signage at the Sumner Tunnel will also arrive less than a year after the state Department of Conservation and Recreation launched a separate pilot program testing a sign aimed at keeping over height vehicles off Storrow Drive in Boston.

from Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News
Source: https://ift.tt/QDJokga

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Virginia family gets keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the US

By
(CNN) — One Virginia family received the keys to their new  3D-printed home  in time for Christmas. The home is Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the nation,  according to a Habitat news release. Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, told CNN it partnered with Alquist, a 3D printing company, earlier this year to begin the process. The 1,200-square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full baths and was built from concrete. The technology allowed the home to be built in just 12 hours, which saves about four weeks of construction time for a typical home. April Stringfield purchased the home through the  Habitat Homebuyer Program . She will move in with her 13-year-old son just in time for the holidays. “My son and I are so thankful,” Stringfield said in a  live feed streamed on Habitat’s Facebook  page. “I always wanted to be a homeowner. It’s like a dream come true.” To purchase the home, Stringfiel...
Post a Comment
Recent News

Lawsuit: High school football player says coaches forced him to eat pizza as punishment, violating religious beliefs

By
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches. The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights. The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn’t. The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a  defamation case they filed  previously against the teen’s father, his a...
Post a Comment
Recent News

After court victories, Michael Jackson estate eyes revival

By
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Michael Jackson’s musical legacy never left, but a kind of comeback is coming. With a series of court victories that bring the end to serious legal crises, with a Broadway show beginning and a Cirque du Soleil show returning after a long pandemic pause, the Jackson business is on the upswing 12 years after the pop superstar’s death. Very recently, things looked grim. The 2019 HBO documentary “  Leaving Neverland  ” raised child molestation allegations anew. The once-dead lawsuits brought by the two men featured in it had been  revived  by changes in the law. And a decision in the estate’s appeal of a $700 million tax bill was taking years to arrive. “I was always optimistic,” John Branca, the entertainment attorney who worked with Jackson through many of his biggest triumphs and now serves as co-executor of his estate, told The Associated Press in an interview at his Beverly Hills home. “Michael inspired the planet and his music still ...
Post a Comment
Recent News