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 […]
This news story aired a few weeks back. It has some great views of the tunneling process but also focuses on some of the social issues, such as complaints about Rats, as well as noise […]
The Norwegian government wants to build a tunnel linking two fjords that would be large enough to pass 16,000 tonne cargo and passenger ships. The treacherous stretch of waterway has seen 46 accidents and 33 […]
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