[22], The machine began excavation of the 1.7-mile-long (2.7 km) route on July 30, 2013, with completion of the bore scheduled in 14 months' time and the tunnel opening to traffic in December 2015. After nearly four years underground, Seattle’s beleaguered boring behemoth clawed its way into daylight yesterday, leaving a 1.7-mile tunnel behind it. By January 4, Bertha had traveled 1,098 feet (335 m) of its planned 9,270-foot-long (2,830 m) route from SoDo to South Lake Union. Digging briefly resumed on February 23, but was halted again for maintenance and inspections before resuming full operations on April 29. The use of Bertha, considered state of the art, was promoted by WSDOT as a way to monitor the project. [49][50] Digging was halted once again on January 12, 2016, after a barge carrying excavated dirt tipped over in Elliott Bay, spilling its load and damaging a dock at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 46. Initially, it was thought that the machine had damaged several of its cutting blades after encountering a steel pipe that was used to measure groundwater in 2002 around the Alaskan Way Viaduct. It was thought the opening date could be pushed up to October. [26][27], By December 6, 2013, Bertha had tunneled 1,019 ft (311 m), or 11%, of the total 9,270 ft (2,830 m) length of the tunnel,[28] stopping about 60 ft (18 m) below ground between South Jackson Street and South Main Street. [30] After a month's investigation, WSDOT announced that the machine's cutting blades had encountered an 8-inch-diameter (20 cm), 119-foot-long (36 m) steel pipe, one of several well casings left over from a previous 2002 drilling project that had assessed groundwater conditions and soil stability in the area in case of another earthquake, such as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, which led to a need for the replacing of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in the first place. After the tunnel is finished, crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for several weeks to realign the highway to the tunnel. Bertha has broken through. [76][77], In January 2015, two Republican state senators introduced a bill in the Washington State Legislature to kill the project, citing Bertha and its delay in particular. Though the machine’s tunneling and ring-building work was complete, crews couldn’t complete roadway construction at the north portal until it was removed. [40][41], On May 18, 2015, WSDOT reported to the Seattle City Council that the damage to the bearing and seals was worse than had been previously reported. On April 4, the world's largest tunnel boring machine broke through to the open air after almost four years underground. [20][21], Bertha had a special pre-programmed melody that played for workers inside the machine and those monitoring the tunnel-borer. Because the machine cannot cut through metal, the pipe damaged several of Bertha's cutting blades, necessitating blade replacement before the machine could proceed. [64], Tunnel boring was completed on April 4, 2017,[4] and the finished tunnel opened to traffic on February 4, 2019. [35] In December 2014, workers began digging a 120-foot-deep (37 m) pit in order to lift Bertha's front end up to street level for repairs,[36] but were delayed when groundwater pumping caused visible damage to nearby South King Street and some of its neighboring buildings. Bertha, the tunnel boring machine designed for the project, broke down little more than 1,000 feet into the project and didn't get up and running again until near the end of 2015. [18] [19] Bertha was shipped to the Port of Seattle in 41 sections, arriving on April 2, 2013. Bertha resumed tunnel boring on December 22, 2015, but was stopped in early January 2016 after a tethered barge in Elliott Bay damaged nearby piers and a sinkhole opened near the project site. How much will tolls cost? It’s the end of an era: Bertha, the much-maligned tunnel-boring machine that drilled the State Route 99 Viaduct replacement tunnel, has officially completely come apart. While Bertha was underground, this page tracked her progress beneath Seattle. The bill was never heard in the state senate and failed to pass the Senate Transportation Committee. [54] Before excavation of the tunnel could resume, WSDOT requested that the contractors, Seattle Tunnel Partners, complete and deliver an analysis of what caused the January 12 sinkhole and what modifications to tunneling operations could be made to prevent further ground-level problems. [63] As of December 15, 2016,[update] the tunnel length reached 70% completion. It was an easy, light-traffic day Monday on Highway 99", "From disassembly pit, crews haul away last bits of Bertha", "Bertha is now tunneling under buildings in downtown Seattle", "Distance update: Bertha has traveled a total of 2,886 feet. She's now in Zone 4 of the tunnel drive", "Bertha is now in Zone 5 of the tunnel drive", "Monday tunneling update: Bertha has reached zone 6", "Bertha is past Stewart St. & the 1-mile mark", "#BalloonsOverBertha at 2nd/Lenora. In August 2015, a consortium of eight insurers filed a lawsuit against STP in order to avoid a $143 million payout to cover the cost of repairs to the boring machine. Since then, construction crews have finished installing a … Like a character in a sci-fi flick, the massive drill was also followed through the gloomy tunnel by a Bertha Cam, viewable on the Web, and the state gave the machine a Twitter feed, @BerthaDigsSR99. [3] Tunnel boring was completed on April 4, 2017, with Bertha's cutterhead breaking into a disassembly vault at the tunnel's north portal in South Lake Union.[4]. Bertha (tunnel boring machine) Last updated September 19, 2019. New Seattle Tunnel Opening Day Drive 02/04/2019 There's a snow storm today. Workers set barricades in place as a vehicle drives past on Feb. 1 inside the new Highway 99 tunnel ahead of its opening day. [59] Following a month of maintenance and inspections, Bertha resumed tunneling on Friday, April 29, 2016,[3] and crossed 15 feet (4.6 m) under the closed viaduct in an 11-day closure in early May that ended earlier than scheduled. The machine completed its tunneling on April 4, 2017 and was fully dismantled and removed from the tunnel on Aug. 23, 2017. Construction is set to begin on the largest infrastructure project in Virginia’s history. [51] The same day, a sinkhole formed within the tunnel's work zone approximately 35 feet (11 m) north of the access pit; the hole was filled with 250 cubic yards (190 m3) of concrete by contractors the following day and was not expected by WSDOT to delay the resumption of digging later in the week. [11][12], Bertha was designed and manufactured by Hitachi Zosen Sakai Works of Osaka, Japan, and is the world's largest earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine,[13] at a cutterhead diameter of 57.5 feet (17.5 m) across. The tunneling machine known as Bertha began tunneling beneath Seattle in July 2013 (photo at right: the machine's cutterhead being lowered into the launch pit near Seattle's stadiums). In December 2015, WSDOT estimated that the tunnel would be completed and open to traffic in early 2018. [42], The front end of the machine was lowered back into the access pit for reassembly in a four-lift process beginning with the repaired cutter drive on August 24, 2015. 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