Tag: Big Bertha TBM

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
Bertha pit end
Construction Equipment
Excavation stopped on Big Bertha repair pit due to major ground sinkage in area
The latest in a long string of delays to affect tunnel-boring machine Big Bertha has far greater implications than any of the others, this time threatening the structural integrity of the Alaskan Way viaduct and nearby buildings in the Seattle neighborhood of Pioneer Square. According to a report from The Seattle Times, Washington State Department of Transportation officials […]
December 15, 2014
The pit being dug to access and repair Big Bertha will reach 120 feet below the surface. Credit: Washington State Department of Transportation
Construction Equipment
Repairs to Big Bertha will require a 12-story pit and removing the tunnel-boring machine’s cutterhead
Officials from the Washington State Department of Transportation have announced that in order to repair the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, her head will need to come off. The announcement, which came during a presentation to city council members in Seattle, comes nearly three weeks after WSDOT officials announced that Big Bertha would be out of […]
February 27, 2014
Big Bertha’s cutterhead being lowered into place last year for the start of her dig beneath Seattle.
Construction Equipment
Tunnel-boring machine Big Bertha moves forward 2 feet in test run to see if blockage is fully removed
After nearly two months of downtime caused by a steel pipe stuck in her teeth, Big Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, briefly went back to work beneath Seattle. According to a report from the Associated Press, the Washington State Transportation Department announced that Bertha moved two feet on Tuesday which was just enough progress […]
January 30, 2014
The 57-foot long section of pipe that brought Bertha to a halt. The pipe was pulled out of the ground soon after the stoppage. Credit: WSDOT Flickr
Construction Equipment
Unstoppable Force, Immovable Object: Seattle’s Big Bertha halted by mystery object
Has Big Bertha met her match? She has, at least for the time being. The world’s largest tunnel-boring machine was recently brought to a halt 60 feet beneath the streets of Seattle, Washington when it hit an unknown object and could move no farther, reported KOMOnews.com. The five-story head of the machine was completely brought […]
December 19, 2013
Bertha isn’t exactly incapable of going through solid objects. Here, she starts her 2-mile journey by chewing through a wall in July. Credit: WSDOT Flickr
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