From Dan Ross:

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For those who like tunnels, tunnel boring machines, needless infrastructure, and drones, here’s Bertha under Seattle. Enjoy.

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Just a few days before the SR 99 tunneling machine started tunneling under the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the Washington State Department of Transportation flew a video-equipped drone through the SR 99 tunnel to show Seattle Tunnel Partners’ construction progress.

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  1. Progress? Isnt this one of the biggest waste of money ever spent on a highway. Are they not billions over budget and years behind.

    1. It’s true what you say, N. But keep in mind that “progress” is a relative concept. Also, this press release was put out by Washington DOT. They can’t go around telling people their own projects are ridiculous wastes of money – especially when they are. I would love to see that press release hacked onto their website, though. ‘Washington State DOT – wasting YOUR money’.

  2. Tunnels are always fairly risky. You don’t know what they cost until they’re built or until the lawsuits are all settled unless you go with something like a P3 which assigns all geological risks to a party who can afford to handle big expenses.

    Going the low risk way always means that you’re going to be paying a huge premium for someone else to carry that risk. That’s just the reality of underground construction and engineering.

    Now whether or not that project would have been much better spent on a real subway/RT system instead of the Link…

  3. It is indeed a colossal waste. Bertha actually got stuck and they had to dig out the obstruction from above, so I read a year ago. To think this tunnel is 18m (almost 60 feet) in diameter to accommodate a four-lane road that will carry, according to one estimate, a whopping 35,000 cars a day. At about 1.2 people per car on average, that’s still south of 50,000 people a day, or less than half of the Canada Line ridership, which was far cheaper to build.

    This is 1950s automobile invasion level of waste. The fact that it is not clear to the decision makers who approve funding these monsters that the advantages of moving people instead of cars in our cities has a universe of benefits that far outweigh the maintenance of Autotopia.

    Our cities and the world have moved beyond I Love Lucy. Someone should inform them.

  4. Impressive !

    About time Canada gets a few more tunnels … For example to improve highway traffic flow from Kamloops to AB border, or under S-Granville from about 7th to 16th to keep traffic flowing and a pedestrian zone up top, or Massey in lieu of a ten lane bridge.

      1. Yes I read it last year. Crap happens all the time and we can learn from it and improve. Tunnels make sense for cars, bikes or trains in quite a few places.

        Just because a plane explodes here and there or flies into buildings do we stop all air traffic ?

        Just because there are occasional car accidents do we stop using cars ?

        Just because one tunnel project fails shall we stop all others ?

      2. No.

        But one should expect the planners and decision makers to use best practices and include an analysis of value for money, especially public money, as a standard. This was a one-off and it went counter to the educated advice, and the piper is now being paid. Dearly.

        Maybe this thing can eventually be used for electric commuter rail and rapid transit with permanent revenue from the fare box and make up for the terrible decision to build it for cars.

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