Seattle’s ‘Big Dig’ isn’t digging
Jun 4, 2015, 5:52 PM | Updated: Oct 14, 2024, 9:19 am
Officials who have been wrong on timelines, repairs, and costs now assure taxpayers that Bertha will not be a problem going forward. (Washington State Department of Transportation)
(Washington State Department of Transportation)
After just 1,025 feet into its 9,270-foot journey, Bertha, the 7,000-ton miracle of human ingenuity that is the deep-bore tunneling machine created specifically for this project, stopped working.
Though dirt, rock, and stone are no match for Bertha’s power, metal is its Kryptonite. A metal pipe stood in its path and damaged the colossal machine.
More delays for Bertha, viaduct project
State officials dispute the metal pipe they neglected to cite in primary documents (but did cite in secondary documents) could be the primary cause of the damage that stalled Bertha. Which makes sense, because there seems to be a murky aspect as to who will ultimately get stuck with the repair bills, especially now that the project’s Dispute Review Board has found that the state should have warned Seattle Tunnel Partners of the pipe.
Bertha is finally undergoing repairs. Repairing the massive machine is vastly more difficult than instinct would suggest. Due to the way the machine works, creating reinforced concrete walls behind it as it digs, means it has no reverse — the tunnel is too narrow to go backwards.
So a pit had to be dug to repair it.
When the massive head of the beast was lifted out of the pit via a special crane, the task was hard enough, but in the future that task may be impossible. Further in on its mission it is digging under Seattle’s streets and buildings. Digging a pit to save it won’t be an option.
But officials who have been wrong on timelines, repairs, and costs now assure taxpayers that this is not going to be a problem going forward. A small comfort if there ever was one…
