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

  • Interstate bridge collapse in Washington State
    May 24, 2013
    A section of bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River in the US has collapsed, dumping a number of vehicles into the river, although no fatalities have been reported. The four lane highway bridge lies around 100km north of Seattle in the Pacific North Western state of Washington and provides a key link with neighbouring Canada. The collapse means that traffic between the US and Canada has been disrupted until repairs can be made or a temporary replacement put in place. There is another bridge runn
    Read More
  • Mega city transport in Mexico
    June 13, 2012
    Rapid urban growth is resulting in massive mega cities with major transport needs and Mexico City is one of the world’s largest – Mike Woof reports Mexico City is a vast, sprawling metropolis and one of the world’s largest cities, resulting in huge problems for its inhabitants, particularly with regard to infrastructure. Measuring population size is an inexact science for large cities as suburban areas can add to the figures considerably, especially in developing nations where unplanned expansion is as comm
    Read More
  • Increase in distances driven in the US
    February 23, 2016
    Drivers in the US have set a new record for total distance travelled. New data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that US driving reached 5.0368 trillion km (3.148 trillion miles) by the end of 2015, beating the previous record of 4.8048 trillion km (3.003 trillion miles) in 2007.
    Read More
  • Bilbao benefits from major tunnel project
    February 10, 2012
    The northern Spanish city of Bilbao looks set to benefit from a major tunnel construction project aimed at reducing traffic congestion on its vehicle clogged streets. The city is building a new underground metro section, Line 3, which will help carry commuters to and from the city's commercial centre and help reduce vehicle journey times on the surface. This project is also making use of the latest piece of tunnelling equipment from Sandvik, the MT520 roadheader, a powerful machine designed and built at
    Read More

Highlighted Content