Around 9:30 a.m., a car erupted into flames inside the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel in South Boston, less than a day after a two-alarm, three-car conflagration in the tunnel leading from the northbound Tip O'Neill Tunnel to the Ted Williams. Read more.

The Ted Williams Tunnel was closed for a bit on Thursday morning so crews carrying human kidneys could get them to hospitals more quickly for transplants. One of the donors, Megan Morant, apologized as her kidney was rushed to Logan Airport: Read more.

MassDOT said today it will experiment next week with letting Silver Line buses use a ramp from the South Boston Haul Road to I-90 that, if nothing bad happens, could lead to shorter rush-hour rides between downtown and Logan Airport and Chelsea on Silver Line bus routes. Read more.

Massive delays and severe delays on the Silver Line.

The remains of the SUV.

A trash truck burst into flames in the Ted Williams Tunnel around 12:50 p.m., shutting the tunnel and sending a plume of black smoke high into the air by way of the tunnel exhaust-vent building across from the South Boston convention center. Read more.

UPDATE: Bail set at $25,000.

A Boston man faces OUI and other charges while the MassDOT worker he allegedly hit early this morning remains in the hospital with serious injuries, State Police report. Read more.

A bit of flooding down there.

MassDOT alerts us that, once again, you'd best avoid Leverett Circle during the evening rush due to those still uncompleted repairs.

Separately, the state says it's shutting the westbound side of the Ted Williams Tunnel between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. for some maintenance.

EMTs get injured worker to ambulance. Photo by BFD.

Boston firefighters spent two hours early this morning getting a state transportation worker out of a shaft connected to the Ted Williams Tunnel.

According to the Boston Fire Department, the worker plunged 20 feet down a shaft into a pool of sludge around 1 a.m.

Using ropes and pulleys, firefighters lifted the worker out after about 2 hours in the hole. He was washed down as part of a decon.

The worker was taken to Mass. General. The department says the firefighters who rescued him were not the same ones who rescued an MBTA worker at the bottom of a shaft last week.

The shaft. Photo by BFD.

The Outraged Liberal considers a possible real motive behind the humongous toll increases approved by the turnpike authority yesterday: Put pressure on the legislature to increase the gas tax.

He notes the tolls don't take effect until February or March, and not until after a public hearing (where will they hold that? Gillette Stadium?).

... Presumably, that would be enough time for Deval Patrick and legislators to get off their, um, sidelines, and approve a comprehensive plan to tackle the transportation nightmare (hey, throw in the disaster known as the MBTA while you are at it.) ...

Dan Kennedy on the turnpike authority: What, are they insane?

Jay Fitzgerald predicts we'll wind up with a toll increase, a gas-tax hike and the transfer of turnpike "hacks" to a new state authority. He uses a classic cartoon to illustrate how he feels this morning.