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]
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Bertha TBM Won’t Resume Drilling Until March 2015
New Tunnel Project In Peru Through Andes
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)