Big Dig Chief Resigns

(AP)  The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman, under fire since 12 tons of falling concrete killed a woman in a Big Dig highway tunnel, resigned Thursday after weeks of pressure from the governor.

In an agreement with the state, Matthew Amorello has until Aug. 15 to clean out his office, but he will continue to be paid his $223,000 annual salary through February.

He also avoids a hearing scheduled Thursday during which he would have been deposed — under oath — at a time when federal and state officials are conducting criminal investigations into the deadly collapse.

"I think this is good news for the commonwealth, the right step for Matt Amorello to have taken," Gov. Mitt Romney said. "Clearly it will save the taxpayers and the rate-payers the cost of an extensive legal battle, and it also allows the citizens and toll-payers to have confidence again in the Turnpike Authority."

Lawyers for Amorello and Romney hammered out details of his resignation agreement late Wednesday, after Supreme Judicial Court Justice Francis X. Spina ruled Romney could go forward with the administrative process to remove Amorello.

Romney said Thursday that he would search for a new Turnpike Authority chairman outside the political arena but had no specific candidate.

"I want somebody who knows how the wheels of automobiles and trucks turn and how engineers can do a fine job finishing the work of the Big Dig," he said.

Amorello's family owned a construction company, but he made his career in politics. He was elected to the state Senate in 1990 and served four terms before losing a bid for Congress. In 2002, he was appointed to head the Turnpike Authority by Romney's predecessor.

Romney, a fellow Republican now considering a run for president, has long been critical of Amorello and repeatedly called on him to step down.

After the deadly July 10 collapse of several heavy ceiling panels, Romney seized control over tunnel inspections from Amorello's agency and began legal efforts to oust him.

The $14.6 billion Big Dig highway project had already been troubled by leaks and cost overruns, but the collapse and the discovery of other loose ceiling bolts in the days that followed heightened concerns about the very safety of the tunnels.

Amorello, 48, had shepherded the Big Dig highway project through the final phases of construction. He faced consistent criticism for having what some described as an imperial manner and clashing with critics, and that criticism increased after the collapse.

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