Tag Archives: boring machine

News, Transportation

Alaskan Way Reroute Begins 2nd Week of May

(Image: WSDOT)

Moving ahead with the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement project, Washington Department of Transportation crews will reroute Alaskan Way traffic south of Spring Street to a newly improved road below the viaduct. That in turn will change the way you get to the ferry toll plaza at Colman Dock. On the bright side, you have until 2014 to get used to the new arrangement, so it should sink in eventually. Study the graphic to the right carefully (or download this PDF: Ferry-Detail-Handout). There will be a pop quiz, probably during rush hour.

For you bus riders, please note that the bus stop for Metro routes 16 and 66 is moving to a new bus island in front of the ferry terminal. That’s right, you get a whole island! Pour us out a mai tai.

Specifically, making this shift will allow WSDOT to expand its tunnel staging area north to Yesler Way, and let them get the area ready for the world’s largest tunnel boring machine (a “57.5-foot-diameter, $80-million drill”), set to begin its work in 2013. There’s no way construction on this scale won’t be disruptive, but officials say they are trying their best to keep traffic flowing.

The Washington State Department of Transportation and the Seattle Department of Transportation are rerouting existing roads along the waterfront and in Pioneer Square, and implementing strategies to keep traffic moving while maintaining access to businesses in those neighborhoods, including:

  • Allowing drivers to use Yesler Way to exit the ferry terminal
  • Increasing the width of Alaskan Way between Yesler Way and Spring Street to accommodate ferry holding lanes
  • Adding more than 60 temporary on-street parking spaces on Alaskan Way between Spring and Pike streets

To try some POV-preparation, watch this video that WDOT has put together for you, which features huge, levitating street signs that are unfortunately not available in real life.

Environment, News

Dig Dug! Brightwater Tunnel Almost Completely Bored

Earth being removed from around BT-1 tunnel machine after haul-out at treatment plant site (Photo: King County Wastewater Treatment Division)

King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division has some terrific news for you about Brightwater: “mining on the remaining 1.9-mile segment of tunnel is essentially complete – 16 months earlier than the original contractor’s estimate and tens of millions of dollars less.”

This is a welcome reminder that not all tunnel megaprojects end in tragedy, and it has to be the best thing to happen to King County Executive Dow Constantine all month. Originally, King County had contracted with Vinci, Parsons and Frontier-Kemper (VPFK) to build the BT-3 tunnel, but their tunnel-boring maching “Rainier” got stuck halfway to its destination, and there’s no reverse. At 300 feet below ground, the options for rescue were limited, and Constantine had to take drastic, blank-check measures.

Constantine declared an emergency, which allowed him to switch tunnel-boring horses to Jay Dee Coluccio, or JDC, who had finished up their tunnel segment without trouble. Their machine, “Elizabeth,” will connect the two tunnel segments this September. “Workers are currently inside the tunnel to dismantle the remaining pieces of an idled tunnel boring machine,” says the KCWTD news release. “The final step involves constructing a concrete plug that will enable ‘Elizabeth’ to bore forward to join the tunnels.”

In theory, then, there will be a Brightwater grand opening celebration on September 24, 2011, and the full Brightwater system will begin transporting treated wastewater from the plant to Puget Sound in August 2012.

Justifiably proudly, King County says “the $964 million Brightwater conveyance tunnel is actually $141 million under the baseline budget established in 2004.” They are currently suing VPFK to recover costs associated with the delay and substitution. They’ve had to “surplus” the original tunnel liner created for BT-3, which was supposed to be 14.4-feet in diameter. Elizabeth bores a 13-foot-diameter tunnel, so new tunnel liners are needed. The wrong-sized ones will be recycled into material for road beds.