Bertha TBM Won’t Resume Drilling Until March 2015

Bertha repair plan calls for excavating a shaft in front of the TBM.

Bertha repair plan calls for excavating a shaft in front of the TBM.

Seattle Tunnel Partners released a new schedule this week for the repair of the damaged seals on the Bertha Tunnel Boring Machine. This revised schedule shows that the TBM won’t be digging again until March of 2015. The excavation of the pit to access the TBM will begin at the end of May, a delay caused by additional archaeological work. By October they hope to have the cutterhead removed to conduct the repairs, and the machine will undergo testing in February of 2015 with tunneling resuming in March of 2015. [Source: WSDOT. Image: WSDOT]