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Sumner Tunnel to temporarily close for emergency drill – Metro US

Sumner Tunnel to temporarily close for emergency drill

sumner tunnel boston highway The Sumner Tunnel.
Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro

In an effort to test the loss of communications by first responders during an incident in the Sumner Tunnel, the roadway will close briefly for an emergency exercise.

The underwater tunnel, which carries traffic from East Boston to downtown Boston, will close between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to the state Department of Transportation.

MassDOT, along with state police, Boston Fire, Boston EMS and other agencies will participate in the exercise.

The multi-car incident simulation will include real-time response deployment, trained volunteers acting as impacted motorists and smoke machines to simulate a fire.

The project began as a table-top exercise in 2012 which”sought to determine what alternative communication capabilities could be deployed and how quickly technicians could restore temporary capabilities in the event of radio communication failure during incident response in the Sumner Tunnel,” MassDOT said.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.