How's an $8.50 tunnel toll grab ya?

Bonus fun quote:

"The last thing I'd want to be associated with is another Longfellow Bridge," [Turnpike Executive Director Alan] LeBovidge said, referring to the 102-year-old span over the Charles River that had to be partially closed this summer when it fell into disrepair.

Yeah, because we all know how well built those turnpike-controlled Big Dig tunnels are.

Ten current and former toll collectors at the Ted Williams and Callahan tunnels were charged today with stealing toll money from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which owns the tunnels.

Suffolk County DA Dan Conley says the most common scheme involved taking advantage of the different tolls charged to commercial vehicles and ordinary passenger cars:

As vehicles pass through the tolls, the collector is supposed to hit a switch indicating the type of vehicle passing through and collect the appropriate fare. In most of these instances we've charged, toll collectors would classify some of the taxi cabs or other commercial vehicles as ordinary vehicles, but charge the drivers the higher toll rate and pocket the difference.

Another scheme involved toll collectors manipulating the timing switch used to count cars so that two vehicles would be counted as one. Again, the toll was collected from the uncounted vehicle but pocketed by the toll collector. The dollars stolen from the Turnpike by misclassifying or miscounting vehicles could range anywhere from $20 to $150 per toll collector, per shift, and amount to thousands of dollars.

State Police began their investigation last October. The ten were issued summons to appear in Boston Municipal Court to answer the charges.

Not that that stopped the guy who tied up traffic Tuesday:

... In a video released by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Thursday, the flatbed truck carrying a crane is seen heading into the Ted Williams Tunnel. It triggered the overheight sensors and the warning sign before the tunnel's entrance, but the driver didn't stop. ...

Seems part of the Ted Williams Tunnel was built in such a way to make it impossible to inspect bolts - you know, those things that are supposed to keep the ceiling from falling on you.

The Globe reports:

A tall truck hit an electric sign near the entrance to the westbound Ted Williams Tunnel this morning, forcing traffic on Interstate 90 down to one lane, State Police said.

Isn't the Ted Williams Tunnel supposed to be all modern and stuff? How tall was that truck?

Third Decade admits to looking anxiously upward while driving back from Logan through the Ted Williams Tunnel yesterday - after first taking the detour through Charlestown to the airport:

Luckily we didn't see or experience anything out of the ordinary. Still, I'm glad I don't have to travel back and forth between the city and East Boston by car regularly. I can't imagine adding that much more anxiety to my daily commute. ...

So Big Dig workers used duct tape to hold up failing bolts in the Ted Williams Tunnel when the Superglue didn't work.

Aaron Margolis: Boston commuters have probably been joking for years that the Big Dig was put together with duct tape; sadly, a silly joke has turned into reality.

Tim at Boston Crazy Driving shows how wonderful the Internets are: You can read the 1998 Inspector General's report on bad bolts in the I-90 connector in the comfort of your own home.

Chris at Left Center Left wishes some enterprising blogger would compile a Big Dig for Dummies site that would answer questions such as:

... Did Christy Mihos really get pushed out because he was a whistleblower? At the time, I thought Swift wanted to fire him because he wanted to lower the Turnpike tolls, while the powers that be wanted to raise them to help with Big Dig costs. ...

Andy at Mass. Revolution Now notes the Globe story in which Tom Reilly is caught in yet another one of those contradictions that do little to bolster one's faith in his candidacy, involving last year's settlement talks with Bechtel /Parsons:

... The one lesson Tom Reilly needs to learn from this campaign is that he is best when he IGNORES COMPLETELY his political intuition, he has none. This is also not the first time the Attorney General's puffing has been deflated. Right now Reilly has an opportunity to turn the Big Dig into political gain without being political! If Reilly just does his job, something he has usually proven to be pretty good at, the politics will take care of itself. ...

Leave it to Soxaholix, of course, to remind us what's truly at stake here:

... Memo to the Big Dig engineers: You were working on the Ted Williams Tunnel, you know, Teddy Baseball, the Splendid Splintah, hello, war hero and not the Charles Stuart Tunnel or the Albert Desalvo Tunnel. Have some civic pride fercrissakes.

Yeah, right now Larry Bird is on the phone with his lawyah, "Hey, put in my will that when I'm dead Boston can't name anything aftah me, OK?" ...

Aaron Margolis at Hub Politics salutes Mitt Romney for his inspired leadership during the crisis.

Some leadership, Sco snorts, wondering where His Mittness was when everything else in the tunnels was falling apart.

Closing down. Closing down.
Another tunnel closing down.
My fair gov'nor.

Take some glue and fix it up.
Fix it up. Fix it up.
Take some glue and fix it up.
My fair gov'nor.

How will we open it up?
Open it up? Open it up?
How will we open it up?
My fair gov'nor.

Pay Bechtel lots of dough.
Lots of dough. Lots of dough.
Pay Bechtel lots of dough.
My fair gov'nor.

What would the Big Dig debacle be without a Big Dig Debacle blog?

Universal Hub's own Big Dig page.