A memo written after a January 10, 2000, meeting of project officials notes "an apparent failure of the epoxy" for ceiling anchors in the first 100 feet of the Interstate 90 Seaport connector tunnel. It was within the first 200 feet of the tunnel where ceiling panels collapsed and killed Milena Del Valle, 38.

The gaffe led Modern Continental Construction Co., which did the finish work on the I-90 connector tunnel, to spend $150,000 - or $85 per anchor - for the necessary ceiling hardware. About a year later, officials spent another $85,000 to install adhesive anchors where there were supposed to be concrete inserts, records show.

** Modern Continental officials asked in a January 2000 information request whether mechanical anchors should have been used for the tunnel ceiling rather than adhesive anchors, "due to the sensitivity of epoxy to cold temperatures." The company's concerns were in line with previous misgivings it conveyed about the epoxy system.