The Swiss and many other European dignitaries celebrated the opening of the World’s longest and deepest tunnel last week, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, after 17 years of construction. The tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps is […]
MOUNT AIRY, NC—A $2 million tunnel construction project on the Great Alleghany Passage (GAP) is reopened to the public with help from a geotechnical polyurethane foam called TerraThane, by US company, NCFI Polyurethanes.
The GAP rail-trail is 150 miles of hiking and biking between Cumberland, Md, and Pittsburgh, Pa. created along the former railway line. In Cumberland, the GAP joins the C&O Canal Towpath, creating a continuous 335-mile long trail experience all the way to Washington, DC. It’s become a favorite biking destination for people from around the Mid-Atlantic states. One of its main tunnels, the Pinkerton Tunnel, an 849-foot former Western Maryland Railway tunnel, has been closed since 1975 due to erosion and unstable conditions. The Allegheny Trail Alliance, the organization that built and now maintains the 150-mile GAP, and the Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association (SCRTA), wanted the tunnel reopened and helped fund the project.
[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from GeoPrac sponsor, NCFI Polyurethanes (makers of TerraThane). [/Editor]
The New York MTA’s East Side Access Tunnel Project is what I would refer to as a ‘Mega Project’. Any time you’re in the Billions of dollars range, I’d say that qualifies, and this one […]
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 […]
Golder was the geotechnical designer for two of the most challenging segments of the Stockholm City Line in Sweden. Their work included foundation improvements for a tunnel beneath a historic portion of Stockholm, 3D modeling […]
The Alaskan Way Viaduct tunneling project was in the news late last year when settlement of the Viaduct was reported during the dewatering efforts for the Bertha TBM rescue shaft. A recent post by WSDOT […]
WSDOT released an update on February 7 with some conclusions regarding the blockage that has stopped the Alaska Way Viaduct Tunnel Boring Machine, Bertha’s progress since December 6. Now they don’t think it was necessarily the well casing after all.
They cite two factors that contributed to the blockage. First, the cutterhead was clogged with material. You can see an cool short video of a worker unclogging the cutterhead. Not terribly dramatic, but still cool. The second factor was increased temperatures inside the equipment. STP discovered damage to a seal that protects the machine’s main bearing. They are still determining how the repairs will be done.
If you want to follow the chronology of this issue, read below for summaries and links to previous updates from WSDOT. And Check out the videos too! [Source: WSDOT]
This is a great piece that covers a lot of ground about the project. The author included information on the background of the original highway, and a nice discussion of the political aspects that drove […]
It seems like every time I turn around these days there is another amazing tunnel project in the news. The level of engineering brought to bear on these challenges is phenomenal, whether it’s in the […]
London’t mega-project known as Crossrail that involves the construction of 118 km (73 mi) of new rail line with 42 km (26 mi) of new tunnels. The geotechnical investigation for Crossrail included rock coring, and […]
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