Washington's SR-99 viaduct replacement boring machine

[AlanOfTheBerg]

Hey, fans of huge machinery! Did you know that the world's largest tunnel boring machine is nearing completion in Japan? And it will be used to bore a new viaduct for SR-99 under Seattle as part of the Alaska Way Viaduct Replacement Program.



More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets ... 880763139/

[andrewkjs]

Very cool. We had a couple of these TBMs for the SMART Tunnel here in Kuala Lumpur around 10 years ago. It was only the 2nd largest in Asia at ~43 feet in diameter though, so not as big as the one heading to Seattle.

bbd014e7.jpeg (33.14 KiB) Viewed 509 times

http://www.smarttunnel.com.my/construct ... neling.htm

[ArlenBystander]

Can you get one of the engineers to pave the new tunnel? The speed data might be a bit off though.

Might have a bit of a problem getting a good GPS fix underground too.

[GizmoGuy411]

Can you imagine the shipping cost?

[iainhouse]

Can you get one of the engineers to pave the new tunnel? The speed data might be a bit off though.