Geologic Hazards

Tsunami Impacts from a Seattle Fault Earthquake

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has released a new study regarding the tsunami impacts that would affect Metro Seattle in the event of an earthquake on the Seattle Fault. The last known earthquake […]

Alex Rutledge, PE, PG, and Robert Indri, PE of Schnabel Engineering's New Seattle Office
Comings and Goings

Schnabel Engineering Opens Seattle Office

Schnabel Engineering has opened a new office in the Pacific Northwest to service their dam engineering clients.  Two dam engineers from their Greensboro, N.C. office relocated there to get it established.  They have been working for […]

Bertha's scheduled maintenance stop
Project Related

Bertha Demo Period Done, Resumes Mining

The Bertha tunnel boring machine has resumed chewing away beneath Seattle after a ‘suspension for cause’ order from WSDOT shut it down in January following two safety incidents. The BTM began tunneling with some conditions […]

The next full-margin rupture of the Cascadia subduction zone will spell the worst natural disaster in the history of the continent.
Available Resources

The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle

This is a fantastic article by Kathryn Schulz for New Yorker Magazine on the seismic and tsunami hazards associated with the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Pacific Northwest. Ms. Schulz paints a very vivid picture […]

Bertha's new bearing is delivered
Project Related

Bertha TBM Gets Spare Parts

The Bertha TBM just received a shipment of spare parts to repair the giant tunneling machine. The manufacturer decided to redesign the seal system to make it easier to access from the inside, if necessary. […]

Malcolm Drilling's clamshell bucket taking a scoop out while excavating the access pit
Project Related

Update on Access Pit for Repairing Bertha TBM

There hasn’t been much to report recently for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Tunnel Project in Seattle. As you probably know, Bertha has not advanced since about December of 2013 after drilling through an abandoned steel […]