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Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Tunnel

Started by jakeroot, April 21, 2014, 06:29:22 PM

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Henry

Why aren't I surprised? And this is assuming that Bertha has no further breakdowns, right?
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!


jakeroot

Quote from: Henry on December 23, 2014, 02:40:44 PM
Why aren't I surprised? And this is assuming that Bertha has no further breakdowns, right?

I hope the 2017 date has some contingency in it, though I find it unlikely.

Alps

Quote from: Bickendan on December 23, 2014, 11:20:02 AM
So, Little Dig? Big Dig: West Coast?
Dig 2: Seattle. The only thing boring is the TBM.

Laura

Question: I read in one of the articles that Bertha does not have the ability to reverse. Is there a reason they didn't give "her" that function? After they fix her, she will still not be able to reverse, correct?

Sub-Urbanite

As Bertha bores, crews are putting the permanent tension rings around the inside of the tunnel. Bertha then uses hydraulics to push off those rings as it moves forward. It's not that Bertha doesn't have a reverse gear, it's that even if it did, it wouldn't have anywhere to go.

Note the concrete already lining the tunnel here.

http://seattletimes.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/today/files/2014/01/image001.jpg

qguy

This is true for virtually all TBM operations. In essence, the diameter of the TBM (Bertha or any other) is larger than the interior diameter of the lined tunnel it leaves in its wake. It won't fit in the tunnel behind it, only in the tunnel it carves around itself as it moves forward.

Henry

Quote from: Laura on December 30, 2014, 04:28:18 PM
Question: I read in one of the articles that Bertha does not have the ability to reverse. Is there a reason they didn't give "her" that function? After they fix her, she will still not be able to reverse, correct?
Quote from: qguy on December 31, 2014, 10:44:36 AM
This is true for virtually all TBM operations. In essence, the diameter of the TBM (Bertha or any other) is larger than the interior diameter of the lined tunnel it leaves in its wake. It won't fit in the tunnel behind it, only in the tunnel it carves around itself as it moves forward.
I agree with that assessment! And in addition, I think that the TBM would simply fall apart if they tried to move it backwards.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

jakeroot

#57
Any ideas what they're gonna name the tunnel when it's finished? Alaskan Way Tunnel?

I propose we name it after the governor who finalized it, Christine O'Grady Gregoire. We can call it the O'Grady Tunnel.

Or, we can name it after the Transport Secretary who also finalized it, Paula Hammond (Paula Hammond Tunnel).

kkt

Or Gregory Nickels, the mayor who pushed for it without a clearcut guarantee that the state would pay for cost overruns.

jakeroot

Quote from: kkt on January 09, 2015, 04:44:39 PM
Or Gregory Nickels, the mayor who pushed for it without a clearcut guarantee that the state would pay for cost overruns.

Yes, I can hear it now... Nickelsville... Nickelstunnel... hmm. Kind of gives off the wrong vibe.

For the record, I would never name the tunnel after Gregoire (never liked her).

Alps

You have Edgar Martinez Way, so how about Ichiro Suzuki Drive?

Kacie Jane

Edgar Martinez Way Drive. Normally I think ceremonial names are pretty stupid, but I do like Safeco Field being advertised as "on the corner of Edgar and Dave (Niehaus Way)".

jakeroot

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2015, 06:31:43 PM
Edgar Martinez Way Drive.

No, that's also wrong.

Edgar East Martinez Way Drive

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2015, 06:31:43 PM
Normally I think ceremonial names are pretty stupid, but I do like Safeco Field being advertised as "on the corner of Edgar and Dave (Niehaus Way)".

I'll take a name over a number any day (with regards to specific highway features). Though I don't like the ridiculously long ceremonial names, like "Trooper Sean M. O'Connell, Jr. Memorial Bridge". Just call it the "O'Connell Bridge".

Pete from Boston

Edgar Martinez really has to be a one-way street.  Eight two-way streets, one one-way, then Edgar the other way.

Kacie Jane

Quote from: jakeroot on January 11, 2015, 06:54:39 PM
Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2015, 06:31:43 PM
Edgar Martinez Way Drive.

No, that's also wrong.

Edgar East Martinez Way Drive

Me hopes you're being facetious, and making a sly convent about the somewhat vague signage on I-5 northbound.

(It's actually Edgar Martinez Drive South. Though for the life of me, I can't understand why it's not South Edgar Martinez Drive. Putting the directional first would make it an east-west "street" instead of a north-south "avenue", which would make sense, since it replaced South Atlantic Street.)

jakeroot

Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 13, 2015, 03:23:33 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on January 11, 2015, 06:54:39 PM
Quote from: Kacie Jane on January 11, 2015, 06:31:43 PM
Edgar Martinez Way Drive.

No, that's also wrong.

Edgar East Martinez Way Drive

Me hopes you're being facetious, and making a sly convent about the somewhat vague signage on I-5 northbound.

(It's actually Edgar Martinez Drive South. Though for the life of me, I can't understand why it's not South Edgar Martinez Drive. Putting the directional first would make it an east-west "street" instead of a north-south "avenue", which would make sense, since it replaced South Atlantic Street.)

Yep, never quite understood why "Ed Martinez Dr" was too much:


jakeroot

WSDOT posted a couple new photos of the tunnel recently:

Below, we see the future southbound carriageway coming together:



And in this photo, you can see the excavation pit:


Sub-Urbanite

And now, this:

GOP senators introduce bill to kill Bertha and the tunnel project

Two Republican senators Monday introduced a bill that would shut down the Seattle waterfront tunnel project and examine how to make the Alaskan Way Viaduct a viable alternative.

Proposed by senators from Ferndale and Spokane, the bill would stop spending on the project and tunnel machine Bertha, which stopped in December 2013 after boring only about 1,000 feet of a two-mile long project.


http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2015/01/26/gop-senators-introduce-bill-to-kill-bertha-and-the-tunnel-project/

Henry

Seems to me that this was doomed from the start...
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

roadfro

The original story has been updated: The bill will not get a hearing in the state senate.


My question to the senators: What do you propose be done with the length of tunnel already constructed? Surely revisiting the viaduct idea would take considerable time and engineering effort, with effort already applied to the tunnel clearly being wasted if their bill went through.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

mrsman

Quote from: jakeroot on January 26, 2015, 05:31:13 PM
WSDOT posted a couple new photos of the tunnel recently:

Below, we see the future southbound carriageway coming together:





Does anyone know what material they are putting on the floor of the tunnel?  It reminds me of linoleum.

Henry

Quote from: roadfro on January 27, 2015, 09:22:57 PM
The original story has been updated: The bill will not get a hearing in the state senate.


My question to the senators: What do you propose be done with the length of tunnel already constructed? Surely revisiting the viaduct idea would take considerable time and engineering effort, with effort already applied to the tunnel clearly being wasted if their bill went through.
Then again, I didn't expect this bill to get through anyway. Finishing the tunnel should remain a top priority.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Vincent

Quote from: mrsman on January 27, 2015, 10:48:23 PM
Does anyone know what material they are putting on the floor of the tunnel?  It reminds me of linoleum.

The shinny part of the floor in that photo is the concrete forms. They'll remove it.

http://www.peri-usa.com/products.cfm/fuseaction/showproduct/sys_id/1002/product_ID/102/app_id/11.cfm

TEG24601

Quote from: Vincent on January 28, 2015, 05:11:47 PM
Quote from: mrsman on January 27, 2015, 10:48:23 PM
Does anyone know what material they are putting on the floor of the tunnel?  It reminds me of linoleum.

The shinny part of the floor in that photo is the concrete forms. They'll remove it.

http://www.peri-usa.com/products.cfm/fuseaction/showproduct/sys_id/1002/product_ID/102/app_id/11.cfm


Actually that is a waterproof membrane, which is used to keep any water that leaks through the road bed from penetrating any further, and allow them to shunt it to drains.  They do it all the time when pouring concrete over a living space on "Hometime".
They said take a left at the fork in the road.  I didn't think they literally meant a fork, until plain as day, there was a fork sticking out of the road at a junction.

The Ghostbuster

If the tunnel is completed, it should function like HOT Lanes. Otherwise, it will either be jammed or underutilized.



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