Bertha’s nemesis: 119-foot steel pipe

By -
By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times transportation reporter
 
State officials revealed Friday that the mystery object blocking tunnel machine Bertha is a long steel pipe, left buried in 2002 by one of the Highway 99 project’s own research crews.

The tunnel drill has been stranded for a month near Pioneer Square, with no clear strategy yet to extract the pipe.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) could not estimate how much time and money it will take to get the world’s largest drill moving again.

Bertha’s cutting teeth struck the pipe Dec. 3, yet the DOT and its contractors avoided mentioning the steel as a possible culprit for four weeks, despite an incident in which the machine knocked a 55-foot pipe fragment to the surface.

What the ongoing delay means for taxpayers is unclear, but it’s certainly not good.

The costs will be determined later through negotiations between the state and Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), maybe even a legal dispute.

Read More: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022593902_berthametalxml.html

A fragment of steel pipe pokes between spokes of Bertha's cutting face, in this photo from Thursday's inspection. It's part of a 119-foot deep well, left in the soil after a 2002 groundwater test
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The VA’s billion dollar boondoggle

By -
Image
A long-planned Veterans Affairs hospital being built in Denver, already hundreds of millions of dollars over its $604 million budget, has turned into a billion-dollar boondoggle for the agency. The contractor, Kiewit-Turner, blames the VA for ignoring agreements to submit plans that can be built within budget and has asked a federal board overseeing civilian contract disputes to let the company walk away from the job. Problems with the building emerged in January, when letters between the builder and the VA revealed the project to be running some $200 million over budget, with Kiewit-Turner blaming a pricey design that was only partially completed by the time it entered into the contract. The two sides subsequently agreed — via a handwritten agreement — to build the hospital within the original budget, with the VA in charge of submitting a new, pared-down design reflecting a number of cost-saving measures. But in a July 8 complaint to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals,
Read more
By -
Image
                 HAPPY EIGHT TRACK TAPE DAY!!   When : Always April 11th   Eight Track Tape Day brings back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. During this era, eight track tapes ruled the music world. America's love of the automobile, was a driving force in creating the demand for musical cassette formats. For those who grew up in this era, an eight track tape player in your home and your car was an essential. It was eventually replaced by cassette and other formats for storing music. Eight Track Tape Day is a day to bring back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. If you still have tapes and a player, by all means enjoy the day listening to some great music. If not, just spend a few minutes looking back in time to when you loved your eight track tapes!   Did you know? Eight track tapes were created by the jet maker William Lear. Anybody have a matchbook?
Read more

Connection Cafe Break

By -
Image
Connection Cafe Break Work keeping you busy? You may have missed the hot topics other members have been talking about on CFMA’s Connection Café . Critical incident debriefing , job costing overtime pay , and captive insurance all generated some buzz recently. Join in the conversation to share and get useful information!
Read more