A bicyclist went around the barricades at the California Highway 1 Devil’s Slide Tunnel project after work hours and rode his bike through one of the tunnels, recording video as he went. I don’t advocate that kind of dangerous behavior, but I must admit that it is neat to see a tunnel nearing completion after several years of work. [Source: YouTube]
Project Related
Crossrail – the engineering geology
For those outside the UK, the Crossrail project is a mega-project upgrade to the London metro area’s subway system. The tunneling portion of the project will consist of 21-km of twin-bore tunnels excavated by eight […]
Standards and Codes
US House Passes National Tunnel Inspection Program
The US House of Representatives passed legislation approving a national tunnel inspection program. This of course came about as a result of a fatal accident from 2006 in a tunnel on Boston’s Big Dig project where a concrete ceiling tile fell on a car killing one person. More after the break.
Geologic Hazards
What Would a Large Earthquake Do to Downtown L.A.?
From the USGS Newsroom:
USGS scientist Ken Hudnut fills us in on how science created the theoretical magnitude 7.8 earthquake behind the Great Southern California ShakeOut—the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history, coming Nov. 13—and what such an earthquake would do to downtown Los Angeles.
Seems like they did it right wiith this study. They had multiple teams independenlty come up with the ground shaking model, then had different structural engineers who are experts in seismic design of large buildings review the tall buildings in the L.A. area for the design earthquake. They say that buildings would likely come down in the 7.8 magnitude event. Click through to watch the video interview from the USGS.