Tag: Seattle: Page 3

Roadbuilding

USDOT launches regional forum for Beyond Traffic transportation trends, policy discussions

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has planned 11 forums across the country this fall to discuss the department’s Beyond Traffic report to be published next year. Beyond Traffic started as an effort to “spark a national dialogue” about the needs and goals for the U.S. transportation system for the future. The first “Megaregion” forum was […]

September 21, 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

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

Big Bertha wakes from one-year nap, begins to chew her way into repair pit

For the first time in more than a year, Big Bertha actually bored. According to a report from the Seattle Times, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine, dormant deep below Seattle since late January 2014, has drilled forward a total of 6 feet between late Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon as crews begin the process of moving Bertha into […]

February 19, 2015

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

Business

One contractor gives another work: Seattle officials suspect construction crew responsible for dumping concrete in sewer pipe

Even though it’s something that happens fairly regularly—three or four times a year—footing the bill to repair sewer pipes used as a place to dump left over concrete never gets any less frustrating for Seattle city officials. Today the city will have to close down part of Fairview Avenue North so construction crews can begin […]

November 13, 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

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

Home

Construction worker uncovers mammoth tusk from Ice Age (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

While excavating for plumbing trenches on the jobsite of a high-rise apartment complex in the Seattle, Washington neighborhood of south Union Lake, a construction worker uncovered what may be the greatest archaeological find in the city’s history. And he did it with just a shovel. Transit plumbing worker Joe Wells moved a pile of dirt […]

February 18, 2014

Construction Equipment

Tunnel-boring machine Big Bertha shut down for “months” due to complexity of needed repairs

Washington State Department of Transportation officials say Big Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, is likely out of commission for months. An inspection conducted after the machine overheated in late January found that several cutterhead openings were clogged with dirt along with considerable damage to seals around the machine’s main bearing, according to a report […]

February 11, 2014

Construction Equipment

Baby Bertha? Bechtel builds mini tunnel-boring machine using 50,000 Legos

The Lego Movie, which hit theaters this past weekend, is fantastic. But we wish the folks who made it had talked to Bechtel first to include the company’s incredible miniature tunnel-boring machine (TBM). The company commissioned professional Lego builders Bright Bricks who assembled a moving, 6-1/2 foot TBM using 50,000 Lego bricks. Like Big Bertha, […]

February 10, 2014

Construction Equipment

Claw and shear painted like a Seahawk rip apart a Ford Bronco in a spot-on Super Bowl prediction

“This is a special occasion.” That’s why Lisa Parberry, who co-owns the Scrap-It recycling center in Ferndale, Washington, says she and her employees decided to paint one of their shears to look exactly like the Seattle Seahwaks logo and rip apart a 1985 Ford Bronco. The Seahawks won their first Super Bowl Sunday night against […]

February 5, 2014