Bertha disassembly begins Wednesday
Mar 4, 2015, 9:14 AM | Updated: 10:41 am
Bertha will be disassembled after the machine moved into the SR-99 access pit Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation)
(Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation)
Bertha will soon be torn to pieces.
The tunnel boring machine reached its stopping point in the SR-99 access pit Tuesday night. Crews with Seattle Tunnel Partners will begin taking Bertha apart over the next few weeks.
Related: Bertha makes it through concrete wall into access pit
“With Bertha now in position, crews have begun the challenging task of taking apart the world’s largest tunneling machine,” says a statement from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Workers must disconnect hundreds of hoses and cables, and remove motors and weld lift points to the machine’s exterior. Up to 2,000 tons of machine will be lifted to the surface for repairs.
Bertha moved forward 57 feet between Feb. 17 and March 3. Along the way, crews built nine concrete tunnel rings.
Bertha overheated and stopped work in December 2013. Workers spent most of 2014 digging the 120-foot-deep access pit.
After repairs, Bertha will continue work on the tunnel project, which will run about two miles under the city, is designed to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct, damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. The project is two years behind schedule.
If all goes as planned, the tunnel is expected to open to traffic at the end of 2017.
