Bertha Tunneling to Resume 1 Month Later Than Planned

November 13, 2015 rockman Project Related Comments Off on Bertha Tunneling to Resume 1 Month Later Than Planned
The Bertha TBM after most of the repairs were completed

The Bertha TBM after most of the repairs were completed

The Seattle Tunnel Partners JV announced last month that tunneling on the Alaska Way Viaduct Replacement project will resume a month later than originally planned. The Bertha TBM will resume mining on December 23 after a unique repair operation involving an access shaft. The tunnel boring machine is currently undergoing testing, and a jet grouting operation to tighten up the ground in advance of the TBM was undertaken last month. [Source: More at WSDOT Alaskan Way Viaduct Page. Image: WSDOT Flickr]

Related Articles

The world's largest hard rock TBM breaks through on the Niagara Tunnel Project
Project Related

Hatch Mott MacDonald Wins ACEC Grand Award for Niagara Tunnel Project

July 1, 2015 rockman Project Related Comments Off on Hatch Mott MacDonald Wins ACEC Grand Award for Niagara Tunnel Project

Hatch Mott MacDonald received the prestigious ACEC Grand Award at the 2015 Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on April 21. ACEC had this project description in their program: More than six miles long and 43 feet […]

UK National Tunneling Day 2017
Miscellaneous

Happy National Tunneling Day (UK)

December 7, 2017 rockman Miscellaneous, News Comments Off on Happy National Tunneling Day (UK)

The British Tunnelling Society (BTS) is encouraging our profession and the public to celebrate National Tunneling Day today, December 7.  Their goal is to promote the industry (and its many professions) to students of all ages […]

Project Related

New Tunnel Project In Peru Through Andes

May 30, 2008 rockman Project Related 13

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)

[…]