Good night, readers:
"Fallen light prompts inspection on Tobin Bridge; No injuries reported from bridge fixture" by Travis Andersen By and Eric Moskowitz | Globe Staff, July 19, 2012
State highway workers moved quickly Thursday night to inspect light fixtures on the Tobin Bridge after one fell onto the highway earlier in the day. Officials assured motorists that the route used by thousands of commuters daily is safe for travel.
Related: No Light at End of Big Dig Tunnel
That's for $ure.
The light fixture, which weighs between 10 and 15 pounds and is about the size of a small television, fell about 15 feet from its bracket underneath the Tobin’s upper deck onto an approach ramp to Route 1 in Charlestown. It did not appear to have hit anything. A state trooper spotted the fixture on the road around noon Thursday, but it was not clear when it came down.
“It is very lucky that it didn’t strike a vehicle when it fell,” said Frank DePaola, the state highway administrator.
The light fixtures are around 20 years old and were due to be inspected later this year, transportation officials said. DePaola said the likely cause was corrosion in the fixture’s support bracket....
Officials said the spotlight-style fixture differs considerably from the one that fell in the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Tunnel in February 2011, triggering an inspection that revealed that thousands of flawed fixtures in the Big Dig tunnels needed to be replaced. The state did not disclose that problem for more than a month....
Asked if motorists should feel safe in light of Thursday’s light collapse, DePaola said, “people should feel confident that the highway division [is] out there” maintaining the state’s bridges....
PFFFFFFT!
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Related: State removes some light fixtures from Tobin Bridge
Two fire engines to be stationed on Tobin Bridge after questions are raised about standpipe system
Not just the lights falling apart, 'eh?
