I passed through the Ted Williams Tunnel only minutes after this incident that caused the tunnel to be closed.
It was a headache for rush hour commuters after state police were forced to shut down the Ted Williams tunnel to fix a sign.
Trooper Thomas Murphy said an oversized, overheight truck heading west into the tunnel hit the sign at about 7:10 a.m.
The truck made it safely through the tunnel, but the sign was loose and had to be secured.
Officials eventually had to shut down both westbound lanes to fix it.
The tunnel reopened just before 9 a.m.
I went through the tunnel at about 7:15, so only minutes had passed. Traffic was only just beginning to back up after the MassPort wrecker stopped in the lane under the sign. It’s a wonder the truck didn’t take out the rest of the lighted signs. (The sign is a lighted arrow or ‘x’ denoting whether the lane is open. They are placed every 100 feet or so and this one was at the lowest point of the tunnel in the harbor tunnel, as opposed to the Fort Point Channel tunnel.)
That must have been a complete mess of gridlock behind me. They would have had to re-route traffic back around to the Sumner Tunnel. Would have added an hour to my commute, probably.
Thank you, guardian angel.
