Modern Continental is a construction company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

 that was involved in the Boston "Big Dig" Central Artery/Tunnel Project. On June 23, 2008, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Boston.

History

Modern Continental Construction is a heavy-construction company and the original business in the Modern Continental group. Modern was one of the major contractors on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, the largest single public works

Public works

Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...

 project in United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 history. Modern was founded in 1967 by Kenneth Anderson and Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 immigrant Les Marino

Lelio Marino

Lelio "Les" Marino was a Massachusetts entrepreneur. Born in Chieti, Italy, he emigrated to the United States in 1958...

. On September 23, 2004, Marino announced plans to merge Modern Continental Construction with Jay Cashman, Inc.

Jay Cashman

Jay Cashman, Inc. is an American heavy-construction company based in Quincy, Massachusetts, with satellite offices in Boston, Jupiter, Florida, and Staten Island, New York. , the company has about 1,000 employees. Cashman was one of the major contractors on the Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel...

Modern Continental Enterprises was a division of the company that built housing developments, built and managed office buildings, operated marina

Marina

A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....

s, operated charter and tendered bus and ferry services, owned and operated an organic

Organic farming

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...

 produce farm in Natick, Massachusetts

Natick, Massachusetts

Natick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 33,006 at the 2010 census. Only west from Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area...

, and operated an Italian restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Criticism

During 2004, Modern Continental Construction endured mounting criticism for its failure to complete a major highway-widening project in northeastern Massachusetts on schedule, and questions were raised about its financial stability. Modern was briefly dropped from Massachusetts' list of highway contractors qualified to bid on state-funded projects. Later that year, questions were raised about the workmanship on a Central Artery contract on which Modern was lead contractor, after a large leak was found in the Interstate 93

Interstate 93

Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...

 tunnel beneath downtown Boston.

Ceiling collapse

On July 10, 2006, four three-ton concrete ceiling panels on Interstate 90

Interstate 90

Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...

 in South Boston, Massachusetts

South Boston, Massachusetts

South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. One of America's oldest and most historic neighborhoods, South Boston was formerly known as Dorchester Neck, and today is called "Southie" by...

 fell onto a car driven by Boston resident Angel Del Valle, injuring him and killing his wife Milena. The ceiling panel collapse has been attributed to the failure of bolts anchored into the structure with an epoxy adhesive from which the panels are hung. Modern Continental built that section of the highway in 1999. (See Big Dig for more details.) The investigation continues.

Investigation

During the period after the ceiling panel collapse a memo allegedly written in 1999 by John J. Keaveney, a former Modern Continental employee to his Project Manager warning of the potential for failure of the hanger system was sent to the Boston Globe. Keaveney recently said that he sent it to the Globe with a current Modern Continental employee's name and office address on the envelope because he feared the consequences if it were known that he provided the newspaper with the memo. "I was worried about the repercussions and that it might affect my family and my livelihood," Keaveney said.

Competitors

Modern's principal competitors in the construction business include Perini Corporation

Perini

Tutor Perini Corporation is one of the largest general contractors in the United States. At the end of 2010 it reported an annual revenue of approximately $3.2 billion. Tutor Perini is headquartered in Sylmar, California and works on many construction projects throughout the United States and...

, Peter Kiewit Sons'

Peter Kiewit Sons'

Kiewit Corporation, an employee-owned, private company, is a Fortune 500 contractor based in Omaha, Nebraska. It is one of the largest contractors in the world. Recent projects have included several bridge retrofittings in the San Francisco Bay Area, Interstate H-3 project in Hawaii, and building...

, and Skanska

Skanska

Skanska AB, is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden, where it also is the largest construction company. The company's head office is in Solna, north of Stockholm.-History:...

 USA. Competitors in the transportation business include Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments

FMR LLC or Fidelity Investments is an American multinational financial services corporation one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world. It was founded in 1946 and serves North American investors. Fidelity Ventures is its venture capital arm...

' BostonCoach and the charter operations of Peter Pan Bus Lines

Peter Pan Bus Lines

Peter Pan Bus Lines is a long-distance bus carrier headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. It operates in the northeastern United States. Over four million passengers per year travel on Peter Pan's bus routes....

 (formerly Coach USA

Coach USA

Coach USA LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service...

's Mini Coach of Boston).

Bankruptcy

On June 23, 2008, Modern Continental filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Boston.