This is a great little time lapse video from WSDOT that shows the construction of the tunnel behind the Bertha’s disassembly pit for the Alaska Way Viaduct Replacement Project.
Building the Tunnel Behind Bertha
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The Building Blocks of the SR 99 Tunnel
The tunnel liner that is being placed by the Bertha tunnel boring machine consists of precast concrete segments. This video by the WSDOT shows how they are made at the casting yard, and what Bertha […]
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London Crossrail Project – Europe’s Largest Construction Project
Seven new design contracts were issued today for the Crossrail project including four central London Stations and three significant portals. According to the New Civil Engineer, the project is being called "Europe’s Largest Construction Project". […]
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Niagara Tunnel – Crappy rock, Horizontal stress, SLOOOOOW progress
[Updated November 17, 2009] A few new posts from Ontario-geofish [/Updated]
Those with interest in rock mechanics and tunneling might be interested in this project. The Ontario Power Generation (OPG) company is the owner of a $600M (Canadian) construction project to create a third hydro power tunnel under Niagara Falls. Apparently the project is having all kinds of problems with overbreak in some very difficult tunneling conditions which means very slow progress and big $$ overruns. (Photo from niagarafrontier.com)
I’ve been meaning to post something on this project for some time. I admit that my perspective is biased by the viewpoint you can find on the Ontario-geofish blog. I’ve mentioned Harold Asmis before, he’s the owner of the OG blog, and a former OPG employee if I understand correctly. He left OPG for a career doing geophysics and earthquake engineering for the Nuclear Power industry in Canada. I highly recommend his blog, he has great insight into tunneling, earthquakes, siting of nuclear power plants not to mention opinions on all kinds of other things. His writing style is very colorful and entertaining as well.
So, Harold has written a whole series of blog posts on the Niagra Tunnel project, including a 5-part series entitled "The Disaster of the Niagara Tunnel" and a 4-part series called "Niagara Tunnel: doing it Right". He is not directly involved with the project, but his long career with OPG and related disciplines gives him some great insights. I’ve collected a list of some of his blog posts on the Niagara Tunnel project as well as a few other links about the project. Click through for the good stuff.