Tag: world's largest tunnel-boring machine

Roadbuilding

Last road panel installed in Seattle SR-99 tunnel dug by Bertha

The Washington State Department of Transportation reports that the last of 1,152 road panels have been installed on the new State Route 99 tunnel, which will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The panels form the lower deck of the double-deck highway, which will allow drivers to travel under downtown Seattle as a bypass or stay […]

April 2, 2018

Roadbuilding

Final piece of Bertha removed from Seattle’s SR 99 tunnel

The last piece of Bertha, the world’s largest tunneling machine, has been removed from Seattle’s SR 99 tunnel, marking the end of a four-month disassembly process. The machine finished its boring of the tunnel in early April, work that lasted four years. This breakthrough was roughly three years later than the original projected completion date, […]

August 25, 2017

Roadbuilding

Bertha stopped after veering off course in home stretch of Seattle’s SR 99 tunnel

Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) stopped Bertha, the largest tunnel boring machine in the world, on Feb. 28 to make adjustments before it continues on its last 1,000 feet of the 9,270 tunnel for SR 99. Officials report recent surveys indicate the machine is potential out of alignment by several inches. “STP is conducting additional survey […]

March 3, 2017

Roadbuilding

Bertha back to drilling after suspension is “conditionally lifted”

Bertha hasn’t been blessed with the best of luck in Seattle, but the world’s largest tunnel boring machine is back to drilling again for now. The Seattle Tunnel Partners announced that the Washington State Department of Transportation has decided to conditionally lift the suspension for cause that Gov. Jay Inslee enacted in January following the formation of a sink […]

February 26, 2016

Roadbuilding

Washington governor halts Bertha tunneling after sinkhole forms

Bertha didn’t get back to work for long. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has put the brakes on the massive tunnel boring machine once again after a sinkhole formed. According to King 5, Inslee announced on Thursday that the machine boring the tunnel for the new State Route 99 in Seattle had to be halted over safety […]

January 18, 2016

Roadbuilding

Bertha breaks through repair wall and begins tunneling soil once more

It’s taken two years in repairs and delays, but Bertha has broken through her concrete repair pit. The Washington State Department of Transportation said in a press release last week that the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine had broken through the pit and mined 73 feet in a little more than three weeks. The Seattle Tunnel Partners were […]

January 13, 2016

Construction Equipment

Bertha, world’s largest tunneler, resumes digging below Seattle after 2-year delay

Though the contractor behind the Washington state Highway 99 project said it might give crews a holiday break before resuming the dig, Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, made its first progress in two years deep below Seattle last week. According to an announcement from the Washington State Department of Transportation, Bertha moved forward 1.5 feet Dec. 22, giving […]

December 28, 2015

Roadbuilding

Bertha is nearly ready to start tunneling again

The massive tunnel-boring machine that’s been sidelined in Seattle for two years could be back to boring by New Year’s. The Washington State Department of Transportation announced that the Seattle Tunnel Partners had begun the final preparations before drilling gets started again with soil and sand being poured into the 120-foot-deep access pit on Sunday. Bertha […]

December 17, 2015

Roadbuilding

Bertha delayed again; won’t restart drilling until late December

The Seattle Tunnel Partners have once again delayed the restart of drilling for the State Route 99 tunnel, with Bertha not expected to start work again until Dec. 23. The Washington State Department of Transportation announced the revised schedule Thursday and said the tunnel most likely would not open until April 2018. That puts the project two years and four […]

October 26, 2015

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

Board rules WSDOT should have given contractor more warning about pipe struck by Big Bertha before stall

In regard to the drilling of the new State Route 99 tunnel below Seattle, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has few friends left. There remains disagreement between the department and the city of Seattle over who will pay to repair a water main damaged during the excavation of a repair pit for Big Bertha, […]

May 12, 2015

Roadbuilding

Water main damaged by Big Bertha repair excavation could cost WSDOT $4 million

Four months after crews temporarily stopped excavation on a repair pit for the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine due to ground sinkage, Seattle officials have now identified a major repair needed on a water main damaged by the sinking. Back in December, excavation stopped on the repair pit through which Big Bertha’s massive cutterhead was recently lifted as officials suspected groundwater pumping […]

April 14, 2015