Lots Of Poking But No Answers On What’s Blocking 99 Tunnel Drill

The Seattle Times ^ | December 30, 2013 | Mike Lindblom

[Windflier]

A half-dozen probes have not hit any huge object in front of Bertha, adding to the mystery of what’s blocking the stalled Highway 99 tunnel machine.

[Windflier]

From the article:

"Workers have poked the soil in six locations in front of the stranded tunneling machine Bertha, but their probes haven’t bumped into any huge obstructions yet, a senior engineer said Monday.

Those results increase the mystery over what might be blocking the world’s biggest tunnel machine. Project leaders initially speculated that an unusually wide boulder, deposited by ancient glaciers, might be in the way.

Progress on the Highway 99 tube has stalled since Dec. 6, when the rotary cutting blades of the 54.3-foot-diameter drill spun without scouring much sediment between Pioneer Square and Elliott Bay.

The probe holes are being drilled 110 feet deep and spaced five feet apart, from east to west. A hole-digging rig was out Monday morning to take another poke, and more test holes will be drilled Tuesday.

“We’re not hitting anything unexpected,” said Dave Sowers, tunnel-engineering manager for the state Department of Transportation. If a school-bus-size boulder were there, he said, the probes should strike it.

Meanwhile, contractor team Seattle Tunnel Partners intends to send workers into Bertha’s flooded front end Thursday to inspect for the blockage through gaps in the cutting head, Sowers said. Many crew members were gone on holiday, so contractors chose to wait for their return before starting the inspection, he said.

The tunnel team hopes to remove enough groundwater so the inspection can be done at normal air pressure. Ten wells have been installed around the buried machine to extract the silty water that permeates this stretch of the route."

[Windflier]

Hat tip to Freeper 21twelve.

[Paladin2]

Dull blades.

[Darksheare]

I got 99 drills but this tunnel ain’t one of them.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

An extraterrestrial monolith.

[RedMDer]

A huge chunk of frozen global warming?

[Windflier]

Dull blades.

Pretty sure that's one of the first things they checked for. Unlike Obama drones, these folks are actually competent and professional at their jobs.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Wonder if they were just over budget and were trying to run out the calendar till Jan to start the new fiscal year? Bet they get it solved and back up and running in no time...?

[Windflier]

An extraterrestrial monolith.

I think someone buried their old spaceship and forgot to turn off the force field.

[Mr. K]

[2ndDivisionVet]

Pre-historic civilization’s buildings?

[21twelve]

At the link they said they are taking this time to replace many of the dull cutters. I'm guessing it is more than just that though. Pretty embarrassing if that's all it ends up being. (Or like I posted on another thread “Hey - who left the emergency brake on!?”)

[BenLurkin]

Preferable to 99 Tears.

[Liberty Valance]

Have they struck unobtainium?

[TADSLOS]

Probably one of Joe Dirt’s meteorites.

[driftdiver]

You know that feeling when you get to the end of the cord with your vacuum? You just need another few inches but it wont reach without unplugging.

[Windflier]

Wonder if they were just over budget and were trying to run out the calendar till Jan to start the new fiscal year?

Doubt it. This delay has cost oodles more than if they'd just kept running. Plus, the contractor will get caught in the biggest lie since Obamacare, if they don't come up with a plausible, documented reason for this stoppage.

[Fungi]

A liberal mummy refusing to move.

[PowderMonkey]

A new labor contract at double the current hourly rate and the “problem” goes away. Nobody gets hurt.

[Windflier]

Pre-historic civilization’s buildings?

Gotta be. Prolly made of Kryptonite.