The "tunnel project" is 70% done?! Except for that whole tunnel part I guess.

Here's my first question: Under the best likely scenario, can we finish this on budget? How close are we to that margin?

Here's my second question: Under the worst likely scenario, how bad are we fucked?

@supergp



1. Within budget? Hahahahahahaha



2. We were fucked the moment they decided in favor of a tunnel. 'Cause we all know that's solid bedrock down there + a deep bore tunnel for traffic that equals about twice the traffic on 45th? Even during rush hour....



God damn it!! Committee meetings are the royal family (Hapsburgs, me thinks) of city politics: they end up fucking the common sense right out of the gene pool.

Oh dear. None of this inspires any confidence.

I'm taking perverse pleasure in contemplating that the same year we finally tore down the ramps to nowhere, we might be building tunnel entrances/exits that never, ever, ever get used for their intended purpose. Decades from now drivers will pass them by and wonder what they were supposed to be for.

Get it done already or shut it down. Goddamn.

Regardless, I want the viaduct gone. Not replaced. GONE.

The contract shows 1 inch - was RT by me this morning

re: the boring machine that broke down (no one knows why)

I suggest you pack some sand in your underwear and shimmy back and forth in your chair for a demonstration.... added friction caused excessive rubbing and overheating.

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014…
Sand mixed with grease was found within the seals, and could damage moving parts if Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) were to drill without fixing the seals first, said Matt Preedy, deputy Highway 99 administrator for DOT. He said STP is doing the right thing by taking time to carefully investigate.

"...the boring machine that broke down (no one knows why)"



The reason the tunnel-boring contraption malfunctions, of which most persons are aware ––certainly those persons for whom this project is of interest, ––is a problem related to sediment and debris that has disabled the boring machinery.



I realize civil engineering is "boring" to some, Heidi Groover. Still, it would be refereshing to read an article with a modicum of research. I suppose there still exists in Seattle an appetite for articles related to such burning issues as local drunks and other ne'r-do-wells.

Your calling awaits.

@10/11 how did the sand mixed with gresse inside the seal? Do we know why that happened?

13, the main seal and bearing originally on Bertha broke before she was delivered. The manufacturer replaced them and said she was up to spec. The main bearing blew due to overheating and sand ended up in the seal. Basically, Bertha is a lemon we accepted when we shouldn't have. She'll be fixed, only to break down again. Rather than wait for an unbroken tunneling machine, we bought the "open box" machine, with predictable results.

"WSDOT says the tunnel project is 70 percent complete, but that doesn’t include the removal of the viaduct or the street connections."

I call BS on that one (that or prove it). Because there have been a LOT of issues and delays so I can't imagine how this is true.

"No turning back" says Burgess.

Hubris, arrogance and stubbornness all rolled into one guy who just consistently acts as if he is the Smartest Guy in the Room. Any elected official who will say that once a project is started that it cannot be stopped - especially one as massive an undertaking as this - is a dangerous person to have in office.

Laypersons express confusion over failed engineering project.
Engineer attacks layperson for a lack of respect for the field of engineering.
World's largest tunneling machine remains trapped under city.

@12, that's all information known, in public documents, and reported by other media. That you're asking means this author failed at their job.

Ignorancy journalism is not advocacy journalism.

The engineers behind this seem to have given no thought to the possibility of the machine breaking down. Great job!

@16, 10, or 11, please post ONE link that answer the question of what damaged the seals. I searched the WADOT website and could find no explanation. Meanwhile, the New York Times, back in August of this year, said: "What exactly happened to Bertha, as it moved forward on its 9,000-foot journey, is in bitter dispute, with huge dollar totals at stake. The tunnel’s contractor has argued that a buried eight-inch-diameter steel pipe in the machine’s path led to problems of grit and rock infiltrating the seal and bearing system, but state transportation experts believe the pipe had nothing to do with the trouble at all....



"Meanwhile, the full-boil debate over the cause of Bertha’s problems, not to mention the finger-pointing about who should ultimately pay for the repairs, has yet to begin."



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/02/us/rea…



Did the NYT get it completely wrong? Or did the cut and dry explanation only emerge in September-November?

@14: My guess is they're saying it's 70% complete because they are proceeding like crazy with building the north and south portals into the tunnel and the street connections, hence my comment above about entrances to nowhere. In not too long the only thing left to do will be drilling the last 8000 or so feet and installing the tube. The fact that they are proceeding like crazy with the portals while it becomes increasing likely that the tube itself may never be finished (unless we revert to seriously old tech) is just lovely.

Burgess so obviously detests Sawant that even aside from his natural arrogant I-know-best personality, he could never say anything that agreed with her.

The only thing we may get out of this would be for him to be so tainted by this that he wouldn't ever get voted in as mayor. Which I assume he'd try for as soon as McDermott retires or dies and Murray runs for McD's office.

Ooh, now I get to be a spy! This is even better when I was an archaeologist! I'm everything but a tunneler!

@BerthaDeBlues

Jesus, what a poorly written article.

@11 is correct - wrong drill type was chosen

18, I'll see if I can pedantically explain this. Bertha has a problem with her main bearing. When the main bearing goes out, the drilling head becomes misaligned, causing excessive vibration. That excessive vibration causes the main seal to also become misaligned, and the gap caused by the misalignment is then filled with sand and gravel, which gets dragged throughout the system.



Bertha was technically drilling when they shut her down. Bertha was vibrating so violently they shut her down because they knew something was wrong. Bertha drilled for days IIRC on that busted bearing. She certainly ran long enough to introduce all kinds of crap into the main bearing/seal.

I don't like Sawant but I am disliking her less as she sticks it to the rest of the City Clowns

I find it pretty disingenuous to call the tunnel project 70% done when only 11% of the drilling has been completed to date.