Bertha Sabotaged?

Ignorant ideology blinded Grist article by David Roberts gloating about the problem with the 'Bertha' TBM fails to mention the actual engineering problem of the machine being blocked by a pipe left by a subcontractor that failed to enter its location into a database- facts gathered from the article's comment section.  

http://grist.org/cities/seattles-unbelievable-transportation-megaproject-fustercluck/

hyp3rcrav3 • 14 days ago

The 'large steel pipe' that broke the tunneling Machine, Bertha, is one reason government should stop using private contractors for every damned thing. We should have used WSDOT folks to do that work. It was there specifically to test to see if the ground could handle a tunnel. It wasn't on the map so the company boring the hole didn't know it was there. If WSDOT had done that work, it would have been on the map. Blame the folks who didn't keep records and pass along the information. Don't blame the tunnel idea.

The vote for the tunnel in Seattle was close. I like the idea of a seaside park the whole length of Downtown Seattle. Many others did too. It will happen.

The viaduct is an eyesore. It also happens that is was, designed and built by the same company with the same materials as the Oakland Freeway that killed a bunch of people during a big earthquake. It needs to come down, yesterday.

I grew up in Chicago where we have a 'surface option' called Lake Shore Drive. It makes it impossible to get to the lake from neighborhoods except every half mile or so where there is an underpass. So much for neighborhood kids playing in the park or walking to the lake shore on a lunch break. A surface option here would make Interstate 5 even more of a clogged mess.

The tunnel is part of State Route 99 which is a 50 mile road from Everett, Washington to Fife. Everett is a huge port town (look up Everett in 1916). It also passes through Tacoma, another huge port town. Where do you think this traffic will end up? What is being suggested by this article is to split this important highway in half. It is bad enough shipping trucks will have to take I-5. To make commuters cram onto the already overwhelmed interstate is plain stupid.

Transport23 hyp3rcrav3 • 14 days ago

That large steel pipe was installed by WSDOT and failed to put on their maps. The private contractors were relying on information provided by WSDOT gathered during the pre-construction phase that lasted several years for ground even broke. In essence, it was WSDOT's fault unfortunately.

SR 99's importance for freight traffic is minimal since there is no easy access to SR 99 from most of the docks and the Battery Street tunnel restrictions. Most freight traffic funnels on the West Seattle Freeway towards I-5 and beyond. SR 99 is a subpar bypass when Interstate 5 is clogged up though, but that's mainly speaking about the north end around Green Lake where you have to rely on surface streets to make it back to I-5 from SR 99. You don't have that issue with the south end with the SR 599 freeway connection.

SR 99 used to be US Hwy 99 before Interstate 5 took over most of the existing route. But Seattle needs the minimum of two thru-traffic arteries in the area. I would disgress that thru-traffic should go around on I-405, but that freeway is in much FUBAR shape as it's brethren.

hyp3rcrav3 Transport23 • 13 days ago

Read the article again; "it? Turns out Bertha ran into a large steel pipe that was left there by a WSDOT employee in 2002. Yes, WSDOT killed its own machine. It’s almost poetic. [Correction, 12/16/14:

The steel pipe casing was left in the ground not by a WSDOT employee,
but by a WSDOT-hired contractor. Also, Seattle Tunnel Partners, which
owns Bertha, says the machine broke down due to overheating; neither STP
nor anyone is sure exactly why, or whether the pipe casing is to
blame.]"

Transport23 hyp3rcrav3 • 13 days ago

It's still ultimately falls on WSDOT to keep their stuff updated. Accountability lies with both the contractor and WSDOT for being the ultimate supervisory organization. STP is still relying on information provided by WSDOT that they did before actual construction occurred.

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http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2014/01/99010313.htm

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/Contents/Item/Display/1457

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2014/06/16_detailsofrepairworkplan.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk-8Q42NCSQ

Seattle 99, WA: It's A Bored Tunnel!

In land bored tunnel route minimizes construction disruptions
allows existing viaduct use to maintain traffic

Outboard portals in foreground for the express bored tunnel
Inboard portals distant for the Battery Street Tunnel to Alaska Way

Culminates years of planning.


Is a single bored, two deck tube, rather then two separate single deck tubes of WDOT's 2008 planning, with full 16.5 foot vertical clearance within a 54 foot diameter.

As an express tunnel with two lanes in each direction without intermediate entrance or exit ramps, local traffic is routed through the Battery Street Tunnels to a new waterfront boulevard with the existing three lane in each direction viaduct removed.

Has the advantages over the waterfront cut and cover tunnel concept insofar that the bored tunnel is constructible while maintaining the existing viaduct and its traffic flow. Its reduction in capacity relative to the 6 lane viaduct is roughly commensurate with the split of this corridors through city traffic and local traffic, with this project providing ample accessibility by the waterfront boulevard, through with a sacrifice in speed- unless later supplemented with the cut and cover tunnel.

Has the disadvantage of less local accessibility then the cut and cover tunnel, though conceivably the advantage of serving as a straight express shot, with the local traffic diverted via the Battery Street Tunnel to the waterfront boulevard, physically conceivably with a cut and cover tunnel built later.

Talk about better connecting this reconstructed 99 corridor to I-90 and I-5 should acknowledge capacity addition stage ability, with interchanges accommodating future connections, with the Seattle 99 corridor eventually encompassing an express bored tunnel supplemented with a local access cut and cover tunnel along the waterfront.

With the parallel I-5 in need of additional capacity yet constrained via its air rights Convention Center, additional capacity for the 99 freeway as a means of I-5 relief seems to evade official planning.

At least one Seattle group calls for this bored tunnel to have 3 lanes in each direction, with others calling for an 8 lane viaduct, which would be less expensive but have far more construction disruptions then a bored tunnel first, with or without a parallel waterfront boulevard atop a cut and cover tunnel.

It does not appear that planning will accommodate reducing the cost of doing so via constructing the waterfront boulevard with prefabricated surface street deck segments partially pinned upon the new bulkhead walls with a shallow excavation, this first completing the waterfront boulevard and maintaining it as the tunnel beneath is excavated and fitted as a subsequent stage.

What about additional federal funding for such extra capacity as part of a deal designating it something like I-190?

The idea of better connecting it to the interstate highways, easing its use as an I-5 bypass/relief is promoted by this private citizens' group's proposal for a 6 lane (3 x 3 twin bore with a lower level for trains).

Seattle 'Chopp Way' Versus 'Moon Way'

'Chopp Way'
(named after Frank Chopp of the Washington State government)
a line of connected buildings
with 1st story retail
and 3rd story encased highway with 4th level linear park



'Moon Way'
(named for Cary Moon of the Peoples Waterfront Alliance)
a line of condos with all vehicular traffic on the surface