And a train was actually hit! Fortunately it was stationary on the tracks, but it crushed the side panel of the driver’s carriage. Neither the driver nor any passengers were injured in the incident. The drill rig was drilling to install ground source heating or geothermal heating for a hotel when at a depth of 20 to 25 meters (65 to 82-ft), the drillers noticed that they lost resistance when they punched through the subway tunnel. Upon withdrawing the drill stem, they were missing the bottom 2.5-m according to a local police official. Story at The Local. (Photo of N.Y. Subway from runnx)
News
Major Challenges for 13.5-mile California Bullet Train Tunnel
The LA Times is reporting that the California bullet train project may be facing significant budget and schedule issues, largely because of a 13.5-mile tunnel beneath Pacheco Pass east of Gilroy. The article reports that […]
Project Related
Devil’s Slide Tunnel, Project Updates and Geotechnical Info
Devil’s Slide is an infamous landslide along California’s Highway 1 or Pacific Coast Highway near Pacifica, just south of the San Francisco Bay area. Caltrans’ Devil’s Slide Tunnel project is an effort to bypass that slide and make the heavily traveled roadway safe for drivers and to eliminate the maintenance and traffic hassles caused by slope failures blocking the road. We first covered the project back in September of 2007 when the tunnel portion of the project commenced. In that post, you can find a Google Earth KML File showing the location of the tunnels and the new bridges associated with the project. In this post, I’ll provide you with some updated progress information as well as some background on the geotechnical and other aspects of the project. More links and videos are at the end of the post. (Photo by Kim Komenich, San Francisco Chronicle). […]
Press Releases
National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 7-11 2008
April 7-11 is National Workzone Awareness Week (NWZAW) which draws attention to the hazards roadway construction crews face from motorists not heeding safety warnings. For 2006—the last year for which data is available—more than 1,000 died in work zones. Figures for 2007 will be released by the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse later this year. Motorists are also at risk for not following work zone safety precautions. They may face damage to their vehicles, injuries, and loss of life. For 2006, 614 motorists died in work zone crashes. (Graphic by Caltrans)
Below are a few items to think about the next time you’re driving through a workzone taken from a Caltrans fact sheet. More after the break (sorry for the “Duh†ones, but I didn’t write them). As someone who occasionally works on the road and knows many more people who do, please, please remember to slow down!
- Most injuries and deaths in the Cone Zone are from rear-end collisions.
- If you slow from 65 to 55 mph for one mile, you only lose 10 seconds on your travel time.
- The first cause of death for people aged 16 to 20 is car crashes. Even if you don’t lose your life causing a car crash, it could still cost you your license or a heavy fine.
- If a car’s speed is doubled, the stopping distance is doubled twice over. For example, if a car traveling at 30 mph requires 100 feet to stop, the same car at 60 mph takes not 200 but 400 feet to stop.
- At 60 mph, you’re traveling 88 feet per second. A lot can happen in one second, so give yourself plenty of room to stop in case of an emergency.
- For the 15,000 miles of California highway Caltrans maintains, it must buy 120,000 new cones every year to replace ones run over by careless drivers.
Comments are closed.
It can only happen if the co. is highly unprofessional.
thnks
nk agarwal
Tunnelling Engineering 🙂