Shocking video shows a piece of concrete fall onto the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston on Friday, narrowly missing cars driving on the busy highway. Here’s what MassDOT says about the incident in the Prudential Tunnel and what it was like driving through the tunnel soon after the incident.
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Concrete fell on the Massachusetts Turnpike, narrowly missing several vehicles in Boston's Prudential Tunnel on Friday afternoon but causing damage and traffic delays.
The incident occurred in the westbound lanes on the Massachusetts Turnpike, state police said, damaging multiple vehicles. Video shows the concrete fall just in front of a pickup truck and a car, which run over the debris.
No injuries were reported, state police and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said.
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"The tunnel is safe," Jonathan Gulliver, Massachusetts' top highway official, stressed at a news conference Friday on the incident.
He also ordered a MassDOT team to immediately inspect major tunnels, including the Prudential, O'Neill, Sumner, Callahan and Storrow, to look for similar issues.
MassDOT explained in a statement that "a section of non-structural concrete at an expansion joint below Huntington Avenue became dislodged and fell into a travel lane in the Prudential Tunnel." They said recent freeze and thaw cycles caused the concrete to become saturated, freeze and then "delaminate" as temperatures rose on Friday.
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MassDOT said they had a two-lane closure in place and are conducting emergency inspections across the width of the tunnel to identify and remove nay additional loose material in the area.
In #Boston, two left lanes currently closed in Prudential Tunnel (I-90) WB.
— Mass. Transportation (@MassDOT) February 21, 2025
Aerial photos from the scene showed major traffic backups, though the highway had cleared up by rush hour.
The piece of concrete that fell was about four inches wide and four to five feet long, Gulliver said. It helps the tunnel expand and contract as the weather changes, but the piece became loose within the joint and was being held up by pressure from ice.
"We believe that ice infiltrated this particular joint," he said, adding, "it's something that typically does happen on bridges this time of year."
It's a similar phenomenon to what causes the many potholes that appear around Boston each winter, and while falling concrete is rare, it's something that MassDOT keeps "a very, very, close eye on."
Gulliver also noted that bridges and tunnels are regularly inspected for this kind of damage, but crews hadn't gotten to this portion of the Prudential Tunnel yet.
Drivers in Boston were shocked by what happened.
"That is nuts, honestly," Dequaun Revelus said. "It could have been anybody, it could have been me driving through there."
Zach McCurdy was hoping that all of the city's tunnels are safe, but added it "definitely makes you a little nervous going through there now."
