A $54 million proposal to replace the more than 25,000 fixtures in the Big Dig tunnels is being touted by MassDOT officials as a “permanent solution” to fix the corroded lights inside the problem-plagued underground highway and ramp system.
The project, slated to begin this time next year pending the MassDOT board’s approval of a bid, would replace the corroding fluorescent fixtures that crashed into the spotlight in February 2011 after a 110-pound fixture fell in the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Tunnel, said state Highway Administrator Frank DePaola.
“The lights are safe,” DePaola said. “But if we don’t do something, this will be a continuing maintenance issue we have to deal with, which means road closures. ... This will be the biggest lighting project we’ve done in many years.”
Engineers have fortified all lights in the 7.5-mile system with plastic ties, but MassDOT officials hired an engineering firm last year to examine possible long-term solutions, which included lower-cost options such as replacing all lights with new fluorescent ones or subbing out the fixtures’ fastening system.
Officials instead opted for a complete overhaul to energy-saving LED lights, which last 12 to 15 years — compared to two for fluorescent — and should save $2.5 million a year on the tunnels’ electrical bill, DePaola said.
They also feature plastic fixtures, which should help eliminate concerns of corrosion that DePaola admitted is happening “faster than we would have liked.”
Slated to last two years, work would largely be done overnight from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., likely starting first with the tunnels before moving to the system’s main arteries, DePaola said. The project needs the board’s approval, but DePaola was confident he’d get the green light.
“There was a lot of things they didn’t like at the board meeting, and this they did,” MassDOT spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said, referencing the heated discussion board members heard yesterday before voting to enact steeper T fares. “They liked the energy savings.
“We needed a permanent solution,” she added, “and we think this $54 million proposal is the solution.”
Money for the project would come from a maintenance fund, established four years ago, Lavoie said.
DePaola said the highway administration’s legal department is still trying to determine who’s to blame for the corrosion of the fixtures, adding the manufacturer, NuArt, was bought out and is no longer in business, compromising chances of recouping any of the costs.
“I don’t know how that’s going to come out,” he said.
