P.T. Segmental Concrete Box Girder Inspection

This past week I started inspecting the Central Artery ramps in South Boston. The ramps we are inspecting consist of concrete Type IV precast box girders and span over 150 feet. The ramps carry I-93 Northbound and Southbound as well as the Southbound HOV lanes.

The past two weeks we have inspected seven ramps, which has made me very familiar with South Boston (one of the few areas I wasn't familiar with before).

To gain access to the interiors we used a 40' bucket truck and on the last day we used a 70' elliot with a HUGE basket. 

Each span has access hatches but one near the ground level was locked. After calling MassDOT to unlock it we found out that the lock was not theirs. Once inside we discovered the typical debris left by the homeless. All the other boxes were fairly clean in comparison though.

The previous inspections had sketches with deficiencies which made the inspections move a efficiently with the majority of the efficiencies still in the same condition as it was two years ago.

What a concrete box girder motel looks like.