Seattle Light-Rail Tunnel Likely to Break Ground This Year

The Devil’s Slide Tunnel Project was originally scheduled to open at the end of 2012, but it has been delayed slightly to an early 2013 opening. If you look at some recent photos, you can hardly tell that there is anything left to finish. I’ve been following this project since it started, since to me it represents the essence of geoengineering, with important roles played by geotechnical engineers, geological engineers, hydrogeologists, and of course geotechnical contractors and tunneling specialists.  I thought it would be interesting to list a few of the posts I’ve written about the project over the years and present a bit of information I only recently learned.  Click through for more. [Image: kxyoung on Flickr]

[…]

From ENR:

In the mountains of Peru a tunnel-boring machine named “Pacha Mama” is grinding through the heart of the Andes under rock as deep as 6,890 ft. It is carving away at a 20.2-kilometer-long tunnel through the South American Continental Divide to deliver water to arid coastal farmland.

This is a really interesting project, known as the Los Olmos project, and a nice little article. Normally for a civil tunnel project you drill geotechnical holes beforehand to know what kind of material you’re dealing with. In this case, because of the depth, they don’t have that luxury, so all decisions will be made on the fly. The depth of the tunnel creates some very challenging rock mechanics and logistics problems as well! (Illustration by Odebrecht)

[…]

GeoPrac sponsor Moretrench is a key team member of the Second Avenue subway team, performing ground freezing on a 150-ft stretch of tunnel alignment in preparation for the second tunnel. ENR reports that approximately 7,200 […]