HAPPENING NOW: Highway 99 tunnel machine’s repaired front section headed back into the pit

August 24, 2015 11:43 am
|    Comments Off on HAPPENING NOW: Highway 99 tunnel machine’s repaired front section headed back into the pit
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation | West Seattle news


If you’ve been southbound on the Alaskan Way Viaduct recently, you’ve probably seen the Highway 99 tunneling machine’s repaired/reassembled front end sitting by the “access pit,” as WSDOT’s contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners prepared it to be lowered into the pit for reattachment. This morning, WSDOT says STP has started the process, which could last at least 14 hours:

Contractor crews will use the super crane next to the Alaskan Way Viaduct to:

-Lift Bertha’s repaired cutterhead and cutter drive unit from its surface-level platform
-Move the entire piece horizontally over the access pit
-Rotate it into a vertical position
-Slowly lower the cutterhead and drive unit on to a platform inside the access pit

“Lifting more than 2,000 tons is a long, slow process,” notes WSDOT in its announcement. If you want to check in from time to time, here’s the link to the webcams, whose images update frequently. It’s been five months since the machine’s front end was brought out of the pit to be fixed.

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