Manhole cover crashes into SUV’s windshield, killing driver

BOSTON » A dislodged manhole cover weighing more than 200 pounds went airborne and crashed through an SUV’s windshield on a major highway, killing a woman as she drove during today’s morning commute, authorities said.

The manhole cover was in the left lane of Interstate 93 south near the exit of the Thomas P. O’Neill Tunnel, state police said.

Gov. Charlie Baker called the incident “bizarre” and said highway crews were checking other manhole covers in the travel lanes of Boston-area highways to determine if any others were loose.

“My initial reaction is what an incredible tragedy for that woman and her family and what an incredibly random tragedy,” Baker said.

After the manhole cover struck the driver’s windshield, the Honda SUV continued forward on Interstate 93 south before striking a wall on the left shoulder of coming to a stop, he said.

It’s unclear what caused the manhole cover to become dislodged. State police said they were examining the manhole cover to determine if it had “excessive wear, deformation, or any other characteristics” that could have contributed to it going airborne.

Police said they did not expect to release the woman’s name on Friday because they typically wait a while after notifying family members.

In response to the death, state transportation workers were sent out to check about 500 manhole covers, grates and utility panels in the travel lanes of highways around the Boston area “out of an abundance of caution,” Highway Administrator Thomas Tinlin said. He warned drivers to be prepared for lane closures during the inspections. He said any unsecured hardware discovered would be welded into place.

Depending on what is found, the inspections could be expanded to outside the Boston area.

The manhole cover that killed the woman covers a storm drainage system and was last inspected in June 2014, Tinlin said. There was no indication the cover had been removed recently, he said.

State police said they would not release any surveillance camera footage from the area of the accident nor multiple 911 calls that were made because they are part of the ongoing investigation.

Baker, a Republican, said he would wait for the investigation to be completed and would not speculate on how the incident may have occurred. He said highway officials could not recall a similar incident in recent memory.

In 2007, a man was seriously injured when a storm drain grate flew off the roadway and struck his vehicle on Route 128 in Westwood.

The O’Neill tunnel, named for the late former U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, was part of the Boston highway project known as the Big Dig and opened in 2003.