Seattle’s Alaskan Way tunnel on track

Plans are on track for construction work on Seattle’s Alaskan Way tunnel to commence in mid-2013. The massive TBM that will drive the tunnel has been tested in Japan by its manufacturer Hitachi and is now being shipped to the US. The TBM has a 17.5m diameter cutting head, making it the largest machine ever constructed. This is bigger even than the Herrenknecht machine with its 15.62m diameter cutting head built for the Bologna-Florence highway tunnel project in Italy. The new Hitachi TBM has been disassembl
March 8, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Plans are on track for construction work on Seattle’s Alaskan Way tunnel to commence in mid-2013. The massive TBM that will drive the tunnel has been tested in Japan by its manufacturer 233 Hitachi and is now being shipped to the US. The TBM has a 17.5m diameter cutting head, making it the largest machine ever constructed. This is bigger even than the 2592 Herrenknecht machine with its 15.62m diameter cutting head built for the Bologna-Florence highway tunnel project in Italy.

The new Hitachi TBM has been disassembled into different sections for transportation to the US and is expected to arrive at the end of March 2013. The launch area for the TBM is being prepared at present and the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Tunnel is scheduled to open in late 2015. When complete the 3.2km tunnel will carry State Route 99 under Downtown Seattle from the SoDo neighborhood to South Lake Union in the north. 914 Washington State Department of Transportation’s US$1.35 billion project will replace the existing 1950s vintage viaduct, which was damaged in an earthquake in 2001. The tunnel will run at a depth of up to 61m beneath the city and will carry 110,000 vehicles/day while its construction also frees up the waterfront area for redevelopment.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New tunnel Acapulco Bay in Mexico
    May 25, 2016
    Acapulco is to benefit from a new tunnel route to cut congestion. A new road tunnel close to Acapulco Bay will help cut journey times for drivers in this part of Mexico. Both tourists and locals in Acapulco Bay currently experience long journey times at present, with a key problem being congestion on the 12km route from Juan N Alvarez International Airport to the Acapulco Bay beaches. During peak traffic times the journey along the scenic, winding road around the tip of the Cumbres de Llano Largo Mountain t
    Read More
  • Indeco hammers carry out key excavation work in Italian tunnel project
    December 2, 2014
    Indeco breakers have been instrumental in excavating the Serra Rotonda Tunnel along the new Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway in southern Italy - Lucio Garofalo reports The A3 Salerno-Reggio-Calabria highway runs for some 443km, linking the A1 Milano-Napoli with the southernmost part of the country. A tunnel is a major link on this highway and was originally built between 1966 and 1974 in an area where road construction can be a challenge due to orography, geology and seismicity. Since 2001, the A3 has bee
    Read More
  • Acrow supplies temporary bridge during Turcot Interchange project
    June 28, 2018
    Acrow Bridge has supplied a long-term temporary modular bridge to main contractor KPH Turcot for its work on the Turcot Interchange reconstruction in Montréal, Canada. The 32.3m-long Turcot modular steel bridge - Acrow’s longest clear span bridge in Canada – is 5m wide and has an orthotropic deck. The rented Acrow components arrived on site late last year and the bridge was opened to traffic in December. It is expected to be in place for two years. The Turcot Interchange is a three-level stack freeway int
    Read More
  • Stonehenge tunnel contract
    July 24, 2019
    A contractor is now being sought for the UK’s Stonehenge Tunnel project. The work involves building a new tunnel and new stretch of dual carriageway, moving the busy A303 route away from the Stonehenge monument.
    Read More

Highlighted Content