KIRO's Graham Johnson just tweeted this:
Breaking: WSDOT now estimates Bertha won't resume tunneling until March 2015.
â Graham Johnson (@GrahamKIRO7) April 21, 2014
Bertha has moved four feet since December of last year. WSDOT last estimated that the tunnel machine might start again as early as this summer. Dominic Holden wrote about all the potential problems with the tunnel project back in July of 2010.
UPDATE 1:22 PM: It's official! WSDOT still plans to open the tunnel in November of 2016. I've included the state's press release on this after the jump.
SR 99 tunneling machine to resume digging in March 2015
As $750 million in tunnel-related construction continues, contractor eyes November 2016 tunnel openingSEATTLE â The State Route 99 tunneling machine will resume digging by the end of March 2015, according to a schedule released today, April 21, by the projectâs design-build contractor, Seattle Tunnel Partners.
Construction will begin late next month on the pit STP will use to access and repair damage to the machine, which stopped tunneling in December. Building the pit is the first of several steps STP has laid out to resume tunneling:
Late May: Begin building the access pitâs underground walls.
Late July through September: Excavate the pit.
October: Remove the machineâs cutterhead and begin repairing damage to the seal system and main bearing.
February 2015: Test the machine to ensure it is ready to tunnel beneath downtown.
Late March 2015: Resume tunneling.
These construction activities will be addressed in accordance with the SR 99 tunnel contract. While this timeline delays tunnel boring by up to 16 months, STP hopes to recover as much as four months of schedule to meet WSDOTâs original tunnel opening date of November 2016. STP had proposed opening the tunnel in late 2015.âResuming tunneling will take longer than any of us would have liked, but making these repairs is a significant engineering challenge that must be done safely,â said Chris Dixon, Seattle Tunnel Partners project manager. âWe are committed to this project, and to taking the necessary steps to recover time and open the tunnel to drivers by WSDOTâs original target date.â
STP has informed WSDOT that crews will replace the machineâs main bearing and install a more robust seal system, which could include strengthening the seals, installing redundant systems, and adding monitoring equipment. Additional details will be included in a plan to be submitted to WSDOT for review by June 16.
The repair schedule will include additional time to accommodate potential improvements to the machine that STP or the machineâs manufacturer, Hitachi Zosen Corp., might choose to make after the cutterhead is removed and crews are able to perform a full inspection. WSDOT will work with its strategic technical advisory team, made up of international and national tunneling experts, as well as consultants, to review the plan.
âWe are disappointed by this delay, but we believe the new schedule is moving in the right direction,â said Todd Trepanier, WSDOTâs Alaskan Way Viaduct program administrator. âWeâll continue to work with STP in their efforts to resume tunneling. Weâre also focused on the rest of the program, which includes more than $750 million worth of work at the tunnel portals and elsewhere along the SR 99 corridor. That construction is not affected by the tunneling stoppage and continues full speed ahead.â
West of Seattleâs stadiums, crews are building the future connection between the tunnel and the new section of SR 99 that was completed in 2012 after the viaductâs southern mile was demolished. Crews are also making progress on the south portal operations building, which will house lighting, ventilation, emergency systems and other vital components needed to operate the tunnel.
Meanwhile, at the tunnelâs future north portal, crews are building the connection between the tunnel and Aurora Avenue North, the north portal operations building and the 80-foot-deep pit where the tunneling machine will emerge at the end of its journey beneath downtown.
Work is also ongoing in Frederickson, Wash., where crews have manufactured 72 percent of the concrete segments that are pieced together to form the tunnelâs exterior walls.