Sumner Tunnel closure leaves Logan Airport, East Boston driving options "few and far between"
BOSTON - Boston traffic will be more stressful than usual the next four weeks, now that the Sumner Tunnel is closed for a month.
Sumner Tunnel closure
"It's pretty much right in line with expectations. Again, we've been saying this for a couple of months now that coming into this stretch, you should expect a lot of extra congestion in and around Logan Airport and in East Boston. The driving options are just very few and far between right now because of the Sumner Tunnel being closed," MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver told WBZ-TV Monday.
The tunnel, which carries traffic from Logan Airport into Boston and Interstate 93, is shut down until August 5 for the next stage of a major renovation that began last summer.
Logan Airport traffic
"They seem to make the worst possible choices when it comes to the when and the how," driver David Kaiser told WBZ. Kaiser picked up a friend from Logan Airport on Sunday, leaving two hours early to avoid being late.
"My dad used to say that the single greatest thing you can do for a person is to make a trip to the airport and this definitely has made it a lot harder," he said.
With the Sumner Tunnel closed, drivers rely heavily on the Ted Williams Tunnel, clogging airport traffic.
"They could do more night work, or stretch it out, it seems like there's always another way that they could do it and when given the opportunity, they always seem to choose the way that's going to impact people the most," said Kaiser.
"Slowest weeks of the year"
"Despite how it may feel, this is one of the slowest weeks of the year as far as driving goes. So, this first part of July and into August is always the slowest part of the year. A lot of people are away. We realize it is an impact on Logan which is, again, why we worked so hard with them to make sure that they have those mitigation options in place for people who do need to get in and out of there," Gulliver said.
At the Americano Espresso Bar on Meridian Street in East Boston, employees are worried about having enough supplies to keep the shop running.
"We do have deliveries coming in for our own shop and they get delayed, it's kind of hard to manage that," an employee told WBZ.
"We are really asking people to check out some of those transit options. Many of them are free or deeply discounted. That includes the Blue Line, commuter rail and the ferries. So we really encourage people to take a look at those if they do need to get around during this time period," Gulliver told WBZ.
Sumner Tunnel construction
Construction crews are tearing up the driving deck in the tunnel to mitigate flooding from storms.
"They've gone in and they've removed all the pavement throughout the tunnel. They're just in there doing some cleanup right now. The next stage that we've done is really map out where that work is going to take place. So, really looking at the concrete, making sure we understand the conditions. We've already started doing some removal of some of the existing drainage and we've actually started pulling up some of that concrete to repair as well," Gulliver said.
