BOSTON — The chief of the agency overseeing Boston's Big Dig resigned Thursday under pressure from the governor, two weeks after falling concrete crushed a woman to death in her car.
The departure of Matthew Amorello, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, was announced just 90 minutes before a hearing was supposed to begin on Gov. Mitt Romney's effort to remove him from the $14.6 billion highway project.
"I didn't think it would fix anything or magically make all the issues associated with the Big Dig go away," Amorello said. "I still don't believe it will. But to go into a hearing with a foregone conclusion doesn't make sense for me, my family, any of those who have taken part in this process, or the public."
Romney, a Republican who is considering a run for president in 2008, said Amorello's departure averted a costly and drawn-out legal battle and "also allows the citizens and toll-payers to have confidence again in the Turnpike Authority."
"A new era of reform and accountability at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has begun," the governor declared. "Patronage will be replaced by professionalism and secrecy will be replaced by openness."
Romney had been pressing for years to remove Amorello from the Big Dig, a highway project dogged by delays, cost overruns, leaks, falling debris and allegations of shoddy workmanship and inferior materials. He turned up the pressure after 39-year-old Milena Del Valle was killed July 10 in one of the Big Dig tunnels when 12 tons of concrete ceiling panels broke loose and fell on her car.
Amorello, 48, had defiantly refused to offer his resignation. But then on Wednesday, Massachusetts' highest court ruled against him and refused to delay Thursday's hearing.
Amorello announced he would resign effective Aug. 15 but will continue collecting his $223,000 annual salary through February.
Romney said he would search for a new 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. The former state senator was appointed by Romney's predecessor to head the authority in 2002, the agency's fourth chief in just two years. By the time Amorello took over, the bulk of construction on the Big Dig project was done.
He was criticized during his tenure for what clashing with his critics and for what some saw an imperial, secretive manner.
The ceiling collapse forced the shutdown of portions of the highway system and prompted a criminal investigation. Investigators are focusing on the epoxy-and-bolt system that secures the heavy concrete slabs to the ceiling.
Romney has said it will take several weeks before the bolts can be reinforce and the entire system is up and running again.
Former Turnpike member Jordan Levy, who went through a hearing and withstood an attempt by then-acting Gov. Jane Swift to remove him from the board in 2002, said Amorello became the "poster child" for everything that went wrong with the Big Dig.
"In the end, I'm not any safer today because Matt Amorello is gone," he said. "Sure, the distraction is gone, but there's a lot that needs to be done."
Contributing: Glen Johnson, Jay Lindsay .