First responders on the BU Bridge. Photo by Greg Hum.
UPDATE, 7 p.m. A thermal scanner mounted on a State Police helicopter found no evidence of a body; firefighters began packing up to leave.
Around 6:15 p.m., based on a phone call. Police and firefighters from both Boston and Cambridge are on scene and searching the Charles River.
Turlach MacDonagh reports police were giving out free helmets to bicyclists without them this morning on Comm. Ave. at the BU Bridge.
Photo copyright Turlach MacDonagh. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
Turlach MacDonagh wonders about this pink thing:
Found this object epoxied to the BU bridge. Assume it is a public art kind of thing. Wondering if anyone know what the deal is?
Jonathan Levitt give us a taste of the chaos around 9 when the lights went out on Comm. Ave. by the bridge.
First responders looking down from BU Bridge. Photo by Rodney French.
Updated, 2:15 p.m.
Damian Drella reports:
BU Bridge over Storrrow Drive female just fell off the bridge down to storrrow serious injuries.emergency responders scrambling.
State Police report:
The 22-year-old woman suffered serious injuries. She was conscious and alert when transported to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Whether the fall was accidental or intentional remains part of an ongoing State Police investigation.
Ari Ofsevit enjoyed the view of the fog from the BU Bridge this morning.
Large numbers of BPD officers descended on the Esplanade and the BU Bridge shortly after 4 p.m., when a 911 caller reported a man in camouflage running around near the bridge with a rifle. Cambridge Police sent some officers to their side of the bridge as well.
In fact, it turned out there was a whole troop of men running around the Esplanade with rifles - but they turned out to be BU ROTC cadets doing some training with fake rifles.
Unluckily for him, Brian Clarke wound up right behind this tanker truck around 1 p.m. on Storrow Drive. Luckily for him, the driver stopped before proving that you can't drive a truck under a train bridge under a car bridge while a plane flies overhead.
Ed. note: Even though it doesn't seem like the tank is filled with anything flammable, can you imagine how long it would take to clean up the mess after the top of the thing was torn off?
Boston Ward 4 Dems snapped the latest BU Bridge/Grand Junction casualty: A truck whose driver apparently and rather suddenly lost the ability to read, right in the middle of the evening rush hour today. On the eastbound side, at least.
Drivers this morning were not prepared for yesterday's shutdown of the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge - although they'll now have six months to get used to it.
Kathy reports traffic was tied up in knots on the Boston side. Nikki reports from on board a bus:
Driver of the CT2 is freaking out screaming obscenities at other drivers in this INSANE traffic by BU bridge.
The state Department of Transportation says it's shutting the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge on Sunday for some major repairs:
All vehicles will be diverted to the surface roadways and through the BU Bridge/Brookline Street rotary, and back on to Memorial Drive.
Investigators have positively identified the body pulled out of the Charles River near the BU Bridge this morning as that of Jonathan Dailey, a Boston Architectural College student who went missing last week, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
Confirmation came through his dental records, the DA's office says.
UPDATE: Authorities ID body as that of missing student.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports another body was found this morning, near where a middle-aged man's body was found floating yesterday. No ID yet.
You get a bigger crane - in this case, to right a crane that tipped over on the BU Bridge.
Inspectors swarmed the bridge today to make sure it was OK after the accident, which did not, at least, block traffic, at least, until the big crane arrived (and what would happen if it tipped over?). State Police are still investigating how the crane got tipsy.
75 bike riders have received tickets so far this afternoon as the city has chosen to crack down on traffic violations around the BU Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue.
The city put out a statement about the enforcement effort citing a number of recent crashes between cars and bicycles at the bridge intersections.
The BU Bridge was closed for repairs tonight, but apparently nobody told at least one driver on the 47 bus. Marti V. tweeted her ride from the Boston side of the river to Central Square tonight:
Oh good. BU Bridge is closed. No one told the 47 bus driver. She's asking a cop for directions. Adventure time?
She just keeps going 'oh god.' in some carribbean accent while she talks on the phone with someone for where she's supposed to go.
The Outraged Liberal reports he made the mistake of trying to take a bus from Kenmore Square to Harvard Avenue and now wonders:
... [W]hat brilliant person is behind the rebuilding of the BU Bridge-Commonwealth Avenue nightmare? And do they have a clue how to time traffic lights? ...
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