Will the Highway 99 tunneling machine really restart next week? Here’s another pit-prep update

Another update from WSDOT this afternoon, as its contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners approaches the date on which it has said it hopes to restart the Highway 99 tunneling machine – next Wednesday:

(WSDOT photo)

Seattle Tunnel Partners has spent much of the week backfilling the SR 99 tunnel access pit. By Friday, only part of the machine’s shield and cutterhead were visible from our time-lapse camera. Crews stopped backfilling on Wednesday afternoon to repair a mixing arm that broke off inside the machine during testing of the cutterhead. Backfilling has since resumed and will continue over the weekend.

STP has indicated they may fill the remainder of the pit with a concrete-sand mixture in addition to material removed during excavation. Using the concrete-sand mixture – rather than sand and soil, as STP previously planned – could reduce the time it will take to complete backfilling. Additionally, the deep dewatering wells that have been used to control groundwater in the pit may be turned off sometime in January. STP previously planned to turn them off this month.

STP has told us they plan to move the SR 99 tunneling machine forward by Dec. 23, the date shown in their most recent schedule. As part of their testing program, STP intends to tunnel forward a short distance in the pit before taking a break for the holidays. After the holidays, STP plans to mine out of the access pit toward a planned maintenance stop approximately 450 feet to the north. Along the way crews will mine forward and install tunnel rings while continuing to run tests.

The state cannot verify the contractor’s schedule, but we will continue to provide updates as STP’s work progresses.

Reminding you again – Highway 99 from the Battery Street Tunnel north to Valley Street (lower Queen Anne) will be closed both ways overnight tonight, with other closures ahead, as part of the project.

Jeanie December 18, 2015 (3:34 pm)

At first glance, I thought that was a film still from Car Wars: The Bertha Awakens.

iggy December 18, 2015 (3:36 pm)

As the news stories say: “Crews stopped backfilling on Wednesday afternoon to repair a mixing arm that broke off inside the machine during testing of the cutterhead.”
Doesn’t give me a feeling of great confidence; Bertha is breaking down even before they start drilling again. This is all so bizarre; sounds like the plot for a Shakespearean farce.
We’ve also had record rains, so I wonder what is happening with the water table. Is the rainy season really the best time to drill on the fill near the vulnerable Pioneer Square and existing Viaduct structures?
But, hey, I’m no engineer. So, I’ll wish Bertha a Happy Holiday and hope for the best for her and the City in the New Year.

Over there December 18, 2015 (3:42 pm)

Yeah sure it will.

West Seattle Hipster December 18, 2015 (4:24 pm)

I thought that picture was a flash-forward 500 years into the future when archaeologists find the stuck digging machine.

Good luck Bertha and SDOT.

dsa December 18, 2015 (4:28 pm)

So I got my question answered about how are they going to install the tunnel liners under the sand after bertha passes. Answer is Tracy says they changed their mind and now are using a sand/concrete mixture and will let it set up over Christmas. Honestly, they have been thinking about this for two years…

WSB December 18, 2015 (4:31 pm)

DSA – I didn’t say it; the blue blockquoted material is a direct quote of what WSDOT released today. (Anything in blue background is quoted material, anywhere you see it on our site. It was e-mailed to news organizations and also appears on the Viaduct website at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/Contents/Item/Display/2603 )

dsa December 18, 2015 (4:56 pm)

I meant you reported what they said. I admire your writing skills and I realize I am often misunderstood, but I try anyway.

WSB December 18, 2015 (8:52 pm)

My apologies: A reader e-mailed to helpfully remind us that our mobile theme (design) does NOT include the blue background for “blockquoted” text. And since I decided not to italicize blockquoted text a while back, the only hint of a difference in the mobile design is a slight indentation. I’m researching whether there’s any simple way to fix this. In the meantime, we’ll be thinking about whether there’s a way to more clearly point out what’s an excerpt or entire news release. Sorry! I do look at the site on the phone at least a couple times a day, as we’re often out in the field, but never really noticed that – TR

AMD December 18, 2015 (5:26 pm)

I usually try to stay optimistic about projects like this and look for the silver lining, but MAN they’re making it hard. I mean she’s already been on “Engineering Disasters” and the project is only 10% done. : (

metrognome December 18, 2015 (6:11 pm)

Jeanie – you beat me to it; I was going to say, ‘Enough of the Star Wars tie-ins! That’s a view of a mock-up of the Millennium Falcon after it crashed into a desert on a faraway planet!’
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AMD – you gotta realize those shows attract viewership (and money) by using superlatives based on no objective criterion whatsoever. The Challenger explosion was an engineering disaster; the possibly faulty design of Bertha could be an engineering failure; the project itself can hardly be termed a failure as it isn’t yet complete. It’ll be 20 or more years before the success or failure determination can be made.

Bertha Schmertha December 18, 2015 (7:38 pm)

West Seattle Hipster – You totally made me crack up with your assessment that the picture is of a future archeologist finding the still stuck Bertha 500 years from now. I envisioned the future archeologist in the picture above saying “Wow, I can’t believe someone thought that would work. What were they thinking?”

Metrognome – The tunnel was supposed to be finished December 2015. I would call that a failure in the clearest sense of the word.

redblack December 18, 2015 (9:32 pm)

WSB: as a user of both the mobile and desktop themes, i prefer the mobile… and the indented quotes. makes perfect sense to me.

just my $.02.

regarding bertha: from a layman’s view, it appears that they’re adding a cementious mixture to the backfill in an attempt to emulate the texture and density of the till that bertha will be toiling through.

no one should ever forget, though, that STP is tunneling across the face of a 600-800′ high oceanic hillside.

it’s a rare engineering attempt, to say the least, and it necessitates trial, error, and weird logic.

kobdvs December 18, 2015 (10:31 pm)

@Bertha Schmertha … Seriously? You decide the project is a failure because its behind schedule? When the tunnel is done and the new road open, does it remain a failure? Do tell.

TheKing December 18, 2015 (10:47 pm)

Now our fearless spenders want to put a lid on I-5. They could have covered it with the $ already spent on the tunnel disaster all the way to Poertland

Bertha Schmertha December 19, 2015 (1:22 am)

Yes kobdvs, I would call breaking down 10% of the way and then spending over a year sitting idle a failure. Unless that is what it was intended to do.
Now the projection is for it to be completed spring 2018; several years behind schedule, presumably with significant cost overruns and many likely breakdowns along the way. Either way it doesn’t matter, because we are just going to end up with a tunnel with no downtown exits and an exorbitant toll which will be grossly inadequate for this growing city’s transportation needs. That is not how I define success.

AMD December 19, 2015 (9:54 am)

For what it’s worth, the program didn’t call the project itself a disaster. It really focused on the fact that it broke so easily and mostly on the fact that there was no plan for how to take care of it if it did break (it was actually pretty interesting to see the process of designing the access tunnel and crane since no crane like it existed on the planet when Bertha broke down).
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Technology is fallible. Machines break. We got really lucky it broke somewhere that they COULD dig an access tunnel and bring in a giant crane (the rest of the project goes under buildings). I just personally find it hard to have a great deal of confidence going forward when questions like “what if it breaks down?” were not considered ahead of time.

Jason December 19, 2015 (10:09 am)

I’m concerned that parts are already breaking off…

Marty December 19, 2015 (10:51 am)

I still shake my head when I realize we are spending billions to end up with a road with less exits and capacity than we had already. Unreal…

Jarjar December 20, 2015 (11:29 am)

“Why again didn’t we just widen the oil train tunnel?”

‘The what? Here hold my 7dollacheeno so I can carry my small dog whose sweater is too heavy while Lil Cindy gives this cold stone gift card to the gent who watches the intersection with his funny cardboard signs. It’s his dog. The what again? Doesn’t matter, let me tell you about Seattle since you have all these odd questions.’

lisa December 20, 2015 (6:49 pm)

a very cool picture…future risticly beautiful in its own machine star warsy way!

kobdvs December 20, 2015 (9:46 pm)

@Bertha Shmertha … ahh … your true colors show. You just don’t like the project. Fine. Your right. Good for you.
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Just please don’t pretend to say the project is a failure because you don’t like it. Yes, Bertha broke. They are fixing it. Don’t think its a coincidence that it broke while still under warranty. The contractor knew they had a machine with issues – it had problems with bearings at the Hitachi factory. They drove it hard so it would break when it did, if it was going to break.
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It remains to be seen how it will do going forward, but don’t be too disappointed if it finishes the job successfully.
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I just shake my head at people who fail – or refuse – to understand that really big, cutting edge engineering projects are hard and complex. That they don’t go perfectly doesn’t mean they are “failures”. Just be honest – you just don’t like the project (and that’s cool – you don’t have to).

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