Tunnel-Digger Stuck Under Downtown

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Gee, who could've predicted...

Geocrackr on December 9, 2013 at 11:35 AM

They should check to see what building it's underneath. Maybe somebody put their foot down.

rob! on December 9, 2013 at 11:36 AM

Here's hoping it is an ancient Martian spacecraft like from "Quatermass and the Pit" film.

Simone on December 9, 2013 at 11:40 AM

This is pretty much how most monster movies begin. Good luck Seattle!

longball on December 9, 2013 at 11:42 AM

Too soon. I was expecting this to happen under some major building downtown and to have to dig a 50+ ft wide access pit through 3rd avenue or something.

ChefJoe on December 9, 2013 at 11:48 AM

@3 thinks he's edgy because he used the word fag.

*yawn* Heard it.

bgk on December 9, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Annnnnd there goes the budget. Fuck this tunnel. Fuck this tunnel. F u c k this tunnel.

disintegrator on December 9, 2013 at 11:50 AM

The last time I saw this, it was monsters driving the borer and Superman blocking the path.

venomlash on December 9, 2013 at 11:52 AM

This is how the Blight gets released. You'll have to build a wall around downtown to keep the rotters inside.

pox on December 9, 2013 at 11:54 AM

... How dull is the boring machine?

an epicurean on December 9, 2013 at 11:59 AM

@10 - That was my second thought!

Geocrackr on December 9, 2013 at 12:03 PM

@10: Nice. That was where I was going.

@11: It's pretty boring.

I suspect it is in large part "stuck" because they want to identify it before they destroy it.... Though I may very easily be wrong.

Hanoumatoi on December 9, 2013 at 12:04 PM

Bertha is just a couple hundred feet into the dig. Here's a tweet from 12/6:

Bertha @BerthaDigsSR99
@neiltimes I’m just north of South Jackson Street, about 60 feet below the surface.

There's some happy! happy! info about the tunnel here:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct…

but they don't mention anything about whatever this current problem is.

rubus on December 9, 2013 at 12:05 PM

@4 that was exactly my first thought.

"Oh No! Giant psychic grasshoppers!"

tkc on December 9, 2013 at 12:05 PM

Well, if it really is stuck, I'm sure the State will help us with any cost overruns.

seatackled on December 9, 2013 at 12:12 PM

This is a lot less boring than expected.

delirian on December 9, 2013 at 12:19 PM

No rush, Bertha. Nobody is going to use the tunnel anyway.

very bad homo on December 9, 2013 at 12:25 PM

Time to cancel the tunnel we still can't afford.

Will in Seattle on December 9, 2013 at 12:26 PM

@ 10, 12,13 FTW! At least our modern-day tech will allow us to build a decent wall around the city, though. I propose that the Stranger start referring to Bertha as the Boneshaker.

ballard dude on December 9, 2013 at 12:31 PM

If Dom and the Sloggers were in charge of Obamacare, we'd have dismantled the exchange after the first hiccup and surrendered to the insurance companies.

kk in seattle on December 9, 2013 at 12:33 PM

It's stuck on a giant wad of cash that will need to be slowly dislodged and pocketed very carefully before anyone notices.

Pope Peabrain on December 9, 2013 at 12:37 PM

@10, 12, 13 etc. What are you referring to?

Simone on December 9, 2013 at 12:41 PM

@24:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneshaker_…

COMTE on December 9, 2013 at 12:45 PM

So far it's Boneshaker 4, Quatermass 2.

Good going Slog!

LMcGuff on December 9, 2013 at 12:54 PM

Too much corn.

Gern Blanston on December 9, 2013 at 12:59 PM

A tunneling machine that can't tunnel through an obstruction may not be the greatest tunneling machine.

And a tunneling machine that can tunnel through any obstruction would probably be a very expensive tunneling machine.

The tunnel is dumb and a waste of money. But it's also dumb to fault the planners for not going for such overkill that there can't possibly be any difficulty.

also on December 9, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Yes, heaven forbid this giant machine not stop once in a while when something unknown is encountered. I mean sure, if it just went full on without concern for what might be found, it would be damaged and you'd complain then as well.

So what the fuck do you guys want? Do you want it done right and the project to respect the fact that not every last cubic yard of earth is perfectly quantified and that when you go digging sometimes you find shit, or do you just want them to ignore all that and risk fucking up the entire project?

Solk512 on December 9, 2013 at 1:19 PM

Thanks @25

Simone on December 9, 2013 at 1:29 PM

@29:

Risking "fucking up the entire project" is a little disingenuous, since it was already pretty well fucked from the beginning.

Speaking of which, has anybody figured out how to actually PAY for this monstrosity yet? I keep hearing that King County isn't kicking in any $$ because of access changes, and that estimates for toll revenue keep going down. The Port is willing to cough up a few hundred million to finance some of the SODO improvements, since they'll directly benefit, but otherwise, it still seems like there's a very significant shortage.

COMTE on December 9, 2013 at 1:43 PM

Fuck Steampunk.

Asparagus! on December 9, 2013 at 1:43 PM

This how Japanese monster movies start...

California Kid on December 9, 2013 at 1:47 PM

@6 if it gets stuck under a major expensive private building that requires something like that, the project dies, unless WSDOT and Seattle want to go to legal war and eminent domain everything in sight, if a strip mine-like digging option is required to rescue Bertha.

Joe Szilagyi on December 9, 2013 at 1:51 PM

@34

Yeah, but what major private expensive building is on its route?

seatackled on December 9, 2013 at 1:59 PM

Blocked by unions? Again?

on December 9, 2013 at 2:05 PM

@35 http://www.tunneltalk.com/images/Seattle… It'll travel along 1st ave from the Seattle Art Museum up to Stewart/Virginia. They took some care to try to trace it under streets where they could.

ChefJoe on December 9, 2013 at 2:19 PM

This thing can't back up, and there's an obstruction in front of is. So how is it not stuck? Seems like it's stuck to me.

Lack Thereof on December 9, 2013 at 2:51 PM

Its probably frozen ground. Not often does the Seattle area get sub 20s temps for a week straight.

Kinison on December 9, 2013 at 3:05 PM

@39
Halted != Stuck
...but then...
Halted != OK

NotSean on December 9, 2013 at 3:28 PM

@40, no. At 60' below ground, the temperature will be fairly constant, regardless of the surface temperature. In this part of the country, the air temperature above the ground won't have any effect more than about 5' below ground.

Reverse Polarity on December 9, 2013 at 3:46 PM

"In the meantime, a deep thought:"

Nice pun!

wxPDX on December 9, 2013 at 3:50 PM

@40: Interestingly, maximum frost depth even in North Dakota does not exceed about six feet. Below the frost line, the temperature actually starts to rise, mostly due to radioactive decay in the deeper layers. This is why ground-source heat pumps, using liquid circulated through relatively shallowly buried piping, is a great energy-efficient way to heat AND cool almost anywhere in the U.S.

https://www.decks.com/deckbuilding/Deck_…

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/scienc…

http://geoexchange.sustainablesources.co…

http://phys.org/news62952904.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_…

rob! on December 9, 2013 at 3:50 PM

@37

Thank you. I had imagined the route to be more waterfrontish.

seatackled on December 9, 2013 at 4:03 PM

@44 Can we use these geothermal heat pumps to produce FREE HYDROGEN FOR EVERYBODY??!?!

(Kidding!)

Dr_Awesome on December 9, 2013 at 4:11 PM

@46 Bailo, you are the dumbest...

Oh. Hey, there, Dr. Sorry, I..., uh... thought you were someone else.

mkyorai on December 9, 2013 at 4:20 PM

@46 :->

—But it actually IS like free energy, of course. Your heat pump only consumes kilowatt hours to a) compress the refrigerant [in heat mode, you're refrigerating the ground around the source loop and moving the heat indoors], b) move the transfer medium [usually a water/antifreeze mix] between the ground loop and the heat exchanger, and c) move heated air or water around the house—so it's much cheaper than electrical-resistance heating or burning fossil fuels for heat.

rob! on December 9, 2013 at 4:24 PM

When you're cheering for the project to fail, you'll probably find plenty of opportunity to do so on something of this magnitude and complexity.

I forget, did SLOG go on and on when the construction of the Beacon Hill Transit Station had it's problems and point out what a catastrophe of suckitude that effort was?

Looking For a Better Read on December 9, 2013 at 4:26 PM

Wasn't part of Bertha's dumb stupid expensive thing that she can't drill out of the hole once she's in? So like, if she hits an obstacle, they'll have to dismantle her while she's underground? Wasn't that a thing?

icouldliveinhope on December 9, 2013 at 4:36 PM

The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum… er... Pioneer Square

California Kid on December 9, 2013 at 4:43 PM

All this for a vanity tunnel that Mayor Murray foisted on us but never provided funding for when he worked in Olympia.

All to build a cool tunnel for billionaires to their stadiums and private jets.

Told you this was a bad idea.

Will in Seattle on December 9, 2013 at 5:32 PM

@22 more likely we'd have Single Payer National Healthcare

Will in Seattle on December 9, 2013 at 5:35 PM

Alien spacship for $100. Any takers?

Simply Me on December 9, 2013 at 6:05 PM

@1, exactly. Who knew?

This could be a blessing.

floater on December 9, 2013 at 6:05 PM

@50 That's generally a feature of every tunneling machine everywhere. Because in addition to digging the tunnel, the machine also places the concrete tunnel lining segments behind it. They must be placed immediately as they serve to support the tunnel and keep it from collapsing, which it would once the boring machine moved on. So placing the lining has to happen, or you can't bore a tunnel.

And the lining reduces the diameter of the tunnel, so the boring machine can't just back up, out of the tunnel. It can only move forward, or not move.

Dr_Awesome on December 9, 2013 at 6:07 PM

If it's abandoned, will we have a cool relic like the abandoned subways in Cleveland and LA?

Catalina Vel-DuRay on December 9, 2013 at 6:12 PM

I am gonna go with the 1880's opium den sub basement vault. Dibbs on the gold and other stuff buried after the great fire.

Zander on December 9, 2013 at 6:26 PM

people, it probably hit some rock type the geotechs didn't expect. there shouldn't be any building foundations 60' below P Square. fucking relax.

Max Solomon on December 9, 2013 at 6:42 PM

The most disturbing, and quite non-funny thing about all this is that nobody was told about it until an anonymous tipster notified TV and radio stations Sunday night. There was no official announcement from the contractor or WSDOT!

You can be damned sure that with a problem of this magnitude, staff and contractors were working hard over the weekend to determine the scope of the problem and begin finding a way to fix it.

They just didn't bother notifying anyone among the public. What do they matter, they are just there to pay the bills.

Citizen R on December 9, 2013 at 10:35 PM

You know what? I think I want Linda Brill to interview Bertha.

seatackled on December 9, 2013 at 11:24 PM

@61, no, she'd just insult Bertha. That would not end well.

sarah70 on December 10, 2013 at 12:35 AM

You shouldn't even attempt a project like this without a healthy sense of humor. Wisdom is not about what you know, it i about accepting what you do not know and too many engineers can't imagine that there could be anything they don't know.
Too many of us cracker barrel geniuses are always expecting someone else to solve the problem for us and really have no idea what to say!
Or when, like McGinn, did you actually quit trying to stop this thing? At what point should the people have pulled the plug in Boston?
We have a 200' shelter for all of the people that this machine should have been named after, can we seal them in and let them out after they "solve" the problem?

digtofreedom on December 10, 2013 at 1:13 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_…

Ben Zero on December 10, 2013 at 7:23 AM

It ran into another tunneling machine coming from the opposite direction.

on December 10, 2013 at 9:38 AM

I predicted this possible end of the world problem!
because nobody wanted to use the EPA..
not even the governor?
rodlewis2013

rodlewis2014 on December 10, 2013 at 11:36 AM

@60: Why on earth does the public need to know about every hiccup in the construction phase? What's the public going to do about it?

clashfan on December 11, 2013 at 9:22 AM

I told that dog not to shit in that hole. Now look whats happened.

Solar Guy on December 13, 2013 at 2:19 PM

I told my dog not to shit in that hole. Now look where were at.

Solar Guy on December 13, 2013 at 5:47 PM

Tunnel-Digger Stuck Under Downtown

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