Panel convenes again to discuss Bridge-Tunnel

SUFFOLK

An independent panel reviewing the July 2 flooding of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel will likely call for enhanced tunnel inspections and a better-trained operations staff.

Meeting for the second time Wednesday, panel members discussed ways to improve tunnel operations and emergency response.

Flooding from a burst water main below the tunnel roadway shut down the HRBT's westbound lanes the day before a holiday weekend, causing gridlock on many South Hampton Roads thoroughfares.

Water-level alarms to detect flooding in the lower chamber are now being installed in the HRBT. The Downtown and Midtown tunnels already have the alarms and officials are considering whether to add them to the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.

Operators of three East Coast tunnel complexes that Virginia Department of Transportation officials are consulting with said Wednesday that they don't use the alarms. They said they have other mechanisms that alert control room workers about potential problems.

Panel members voiced concerns that the HRBT's control room staff might not be adequately trained and that VDOT's practice of alternating staff between traffic management and operating systems makes it difficult to develop expertise in recognizing and responding to problems.

Steve Napolitano, general manager of the Lincoln Tunnel for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said much of his control room staff has worked in maintenance.

"My controller knows the assets... knows the root of the failure," he said.

The panel also expressed concern that there's no maintenance staff on site outside normal work hours. A supervisor and a maintenance worker are on call at all times, VDOT operations manager Dwayne Cook said.

Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner David Ekern has said human error is the reason the July main break went undetected for hours. The problem was finally spotted when water spilled onto the roadway. Other signals, such as the automatic switching on of fire pumps that feed the broken main, should have alerted staff long before, he said.

Disciplinary action is expected to be taken against one or more employees, Ekern said earlier this month.

VDOT spokesman Jeff Caldwell said Wednesday that "personnel actions are being taken," but he declined to offer details, citing privacy.

As for maintenance, VDOT will collect inspection schedules from other tunnel operators on the panel and compare them with VDOT's procedures.

All the tunnels appear to have workers around the equipment daily. The Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel had the most aggressive program, with hands-on checks every two to three hours.

"There's a lot more similarities than I expected," Cook said.

The differences come primarily in comprehensive inspections, which the other tunnels conduct yearly using outside consultants.

Cook said VDOT tunnels undergo staff inspections every seven years and outside consultant inspections sometime in the interim. He said the agency is waiting for the panel's advice before considering changes to inspections and maintenance.

VDOT is conducting an evaluation of the water pipes in the westbound tunnel to determine whether they need further repair or possibly replacement at an estimated cost of $7 million to $9 million, Cook said.

The panel will meet one more time, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 10, to finalize recommendations.

Meanwhile, the other tunnel operators on the panel - the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, the two Baltimore Harbor tunnels and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel - said they do not use water-level alarms now being installed in the HRBT.

Instead of using the alarms, the other tunnels use other mechanisms that alert workers of potential problems, including alerts that signal when water pumps are activated. So far, that's been sufficient.

At Baltimore's Fort McHenry Tunnel, a water main broke about a dozen years ago and it was detected almost immediately when pump alarms sounded, said Don Smith, tunnel maintenance operations manager for the Maryland Transportation Authority.

The roadway never flooded; however, there were overnight lane closures over two to three days to pump "a fair amount of water" from air ducts, Smith said.

The Chesapeake Bay-Bridge and Lincoln tunnels have not had burst pipes, but have dealt with smaller water issues.

"We all have these things," Napolitano said. "They're not uncommon or unheard of."

He said his staff has responded to broken valves and leaks that never necessitated a tunnel shutdown, but have closed lanes for repairs.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com