As thousands of college students from all over the nation and the world return to the Boston area over the next weeks, they face new traffic troubles in the city and renewed fears of terrorism in the skies.
Following the July 10 collapse of ceiling panels in Boston's massive "Big Dig" tunnel project and the resulting death of motorist Melina Del Valle, parts of the tunnel system have been closed intermittently all summer.
The accident that prompted the closures occurred in a connector for major highways I-90 and I-93 to the Ted Williams tunnel leading to Logan International Airport. These closed sections are especially important for travel into and out of Boston, concentrating traffic to and from Logan into one circuitous route for each direction.
"This story has been a national story, and it has been a national disgrace," said Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, a former Mass Turnpike Board member who was fired from his post by Acting Governor Jane Swift in 2001 after repeated conflicts with Chairman Amorello over the continually increasing cost of the project.
"It has the ability to become a major gridlock situation with 280,000 students returning, plus the impact of people returning from summer vacation."
Additional compromised ceiling systems have been discovered in other tunnels, and state transportation spokesman John Carlisle said there is no time frame for the reopening of closed tunnels.
With an expected 15 to 25 percent increase in post-Labor Day traffic imminent, Boston officials are concerned that the tunnel closures will have a magnified effect on the city's ground traffic. Carlisle describes it as a "wait-and-see situation" for which predictions are extremely difficult, but one that could "very well have an impact" on college students returning to the city.
Despite repeated assurances from Governor Mitt Romney and administration officials that the open Big Dig tunnels are safe, many drivers have been avoiding using the tunnels all summer.
"I will never take my family through the tunnels," Mihos said.
Carlisle, however, said that the city's transportation officials are adopting a vigorous and comprehensive response to the multiple problems facing them.
"We've been working
proactively not just to get the tunnels open safely," he said, "but also on cooperating with other agencies to develop certain policies and initiatives that will minimize impact on traffic." For instance, he said, T service on most lines will be enhanced, and officials are encouraging space-saving transport options like public transport and van pools.
Romney, having taken control of the entire project from Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello, has called for an entire review of the ceiling systems in all the Big Dig tunnels.
Romney's executive office of transportation has been conducting "pull tests" on ceilings throughout the system, which test the strength of the bolts that connect the panels to the ceiling with three tons' worth of weight (three times that of a normal ceiling panel).
Travelers coming to Boston via the air are not exempt from transportation concerns, either. On August 11, British authorities arrested 24 suspected terrorists who allegedly plotted to explode as many as 10 aircraft by combining liquids brought into the aircraft via carry-on luggage.
Directly following the arrests, the United States Department of Homeland Security set the terror threat level to red, or severe, the highest threat level in the color-coded alert system, for inbound flights from the United Kingdom. Currently, the threat level for all domestic and international flights is set at orange, or high, while the general threat level is set at yellow, or elevated.
In response to the new threat, the United States Federal Transportation Security Administration has banned almost all liquids and gels from carry-on luggage on flights within, to, and from the United States.
Institute of Global Leadership director Sherman Teichman noted how little has changed to secure our transportation systems here in the US.
"It is such a fraud," said Teichman. "It is a devastating reality that we have had all these years to fix the security problems. This is not nuclear fusion; this is
basic."
As some Tufts students prepare to study abroad this term, Teichman warns that there is very little they can do to protect themselves.
"What can you do?" asks Teichman. "Almost nothing."
Krish Kotru, a junior leaving for the Tufts-in-London program, agrees that worry is useless.
"Day to day, you have to keep it out of your head," he said. "You have to live your life as best you can."
The increased security on flights is mostly an inconvenience for Kotru.
"It is going to be a big part [of preparing]," he said. "I may end up shipping a lot of things, like toiletries, but hopefully it won't alter my plans too
much."
"I'm not nervous about flying at all," said Maia Leppo, a junior who is also studying in London this semester. "I just think it is too bad that [terrorism] is how people solve problems. I wish there were other ways to do it."
