Tag: Big Bertha repairs

Roadbuilding

PHOTOS > Big Bertha gets her head together: How to repair the world’s largest tunnel machine

With the final repairs having been made earlier this summer and Big Bertha finally picked back together underground, Washington State Department of Transportation and Seattle Tunnel Partners crews are hopeful that their 18-month nightmare is nearing a close. Now two years behind schedule, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine is pegged for a return to digging in […]

September 29, 2015

Roadbuilding

Stronger Big Bertha cutter head lowered back into its pit for tunneling

Big Bertha’s massive cutter head is back underground after months of repairs were made to get the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine back to work. According to the Seattle Times, Big Bertha’s new, stronger front end took the 120-foot dive into the pit Tuesday as Dutch lifting company Mammoet lowered the 2,000-ton machine back down. In […]

August 27, 2015

Roadbuilding

Big Bertha is set to start drilling again in November after extensive repairs, testing

The world’s largest tunnel-boring machine is now scheduled to get back to work on November 23, nearly two years after it overheated and stalled while digging beneath Seattle. The Seattle Times reported that the construction team handling the massive undertaking of drilling the 1.8-mile Highway 99 tunnel released the new timetable and a new completion date of […]

July 21, 2015

Roadbuilding

Crews begin installation of Big Bertha’s new seal system

While the rest of her massive frame waits below ground, Big Bertha has undergone the most pivotal portion of her badly-needed brain surgery. According to a report from the Puget Sound Business Journal, repair crews with Seattle Tunnel Partners, the lead contractor on the drilling of a new State Route 99 tunnel beneath Seattle, have begun […]

June 16, 2015

Roadbuilding

Damage to Big Bertha worse than previously thought

Now that crews are well into the process of dismantling her front-end for necessary repairs, it’s clear that damage to Big Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, is worse than previously thought. Making matters worse, the tunneler likely won’t resume its work drilling the State Route 99 tunnel beneath Seattle by August as the project’s […]

May 26, 2015

Roadbuilding

PHOTOS: Big Bertha’s 2,000-ton front end lifted to the surface. How the world’s largest tunneler was raised

[imagebrowser id=225] After a year of slumber and almost a month after chewing her way into a 12-story repair pit, Big Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, is finally under repair in Seattle. Crews worked for the better part of March to disassemble the machine’s front end before lifting the machine’s cutterhead and body shield panels—a […]

April 1, 2015

Roadbuilding

PHOTOS: Fixing Bertha: How workers dug a 12-story pit to raise world’s largest tunnel boring machine from the dead

No. 8 Story in 2015 « No. 9 No. 7 »   [imagebrowser id=194] The Big Bertha saga recently received a major update: crews with lead contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners have finished digging the 120-foot pit that will be used to access the world’s largest tunnel boring machine for necessary repairs. Now that the pit […]

February 11, 2015

Construction Equipment

Drilling delays a problem for tunnel-boring machine Big Bertha even as she slumbers below ground

Crews in Seattle are now expected to finish digging a 12-story pit to reach stalled tunnel-boring machine Big Bertha one month later than planned due to concrete pilings proving more difficult to drill through than expected, according to a report from the Seattle Times. Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine went down from overheating in late January, […]

July 31, 2014

Construction Equipment

Repairs to Big Bertha will include 86 tons of steel reinforcement to tunnel-boring machine’s bearing, cutter drive

The largest tunnel-boring machine in the world needs a bit of reinforcement against the “wet and abrasive soils” deep below Seattle, according to a report from the Seattle Times. As such, repairs for Big Bertha will include the installation of 216 steel ribs and plates that will add 86 tons to the 7,000-ton machine, the paper […]

June 18, 2014