Busted Bertha piece finds home on repair platform
Mar 31, 2015, 4:48 PM | Updated: 5:14 pm
The front end of Bertha is safely resting on a repair platform just south of the access pit. (WSDOT photo)
(WSDOT photo)
The front end of Bertha is safely resting on a repair platform just south of the access pit.
Crews will now begin disassembling the 2,000-ton piece removed from the world’s largest tunneling machine that’s stuck below Seattle’s waterfront.
This last piece was one of four that Seattle Tunnel Partners needed to remove to begin repairs on the broken cutter head. The Washington State Department of Transportation, overseeing the tunnel project, explained the fourth piece also houses the drive unit section that enables the cutter head to rotate. It also houses the main bearing and seal system that will be replaced during repairs, according to WSDOT.
Crews began removing Bertha on March 19.
The machine overheated and stopped work in December 2013. Workers spent most of 2014 digging the 120-foot-deep repair pit.
After repairs, Bertha will continue work on the tunnel project, which will run about two miles under the city and is designed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Bertha is expected to resume tunneling in August. If all goes as planned, the tunnel is expected to open to traffic at the end of 2017.
