Posted on 04/29/2017 8:12:19 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Lived in Switzerland in 2008-09 when several tunnels in the Zurich area were under construction and some opened, improving commutes a great deal. Small country really investing in its future.
Many of the places that are tunneled or under consideration are geologically nuts to have tunnels. Just drove through Lantos a couple of months ago and it blows my mind the cost and the seismic logic.
I was always fascinated with the 4 remaining tunnels on the PA Turnpike. The oldest of them were origianlly RR tunnels that were widened and reinforced. Considering the technology and relatively primitive equipment the workers and engineers had at their disposal in the 1930’s it was amazing that those tunnels as well as the original 160 mile stretch of the Turnpike between Carlisle and Irwin was completed under budget and ahead of schedule, incredible for a gov’t project.
yea and 100 years later still paying for the turnpike
This might be the highest Major tunnel in the USA:
The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel, is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel approximately 60 mi (97 km) west of Denver, Colorado, United States.
Approximately 11,250 Feet Elevation beneath the Continental Divide.
“Caldecott Tunnel fourth section”
Problem here is that the two original bores were opened in 1937 (as the Broadway Low Level Tunnel) are so narrrow that with today’s cars they are exceedingly slow. So traffic at afternoon commute times is still very much impeded since these two tunnels now handle only eastbound traffic. They are probably seismic issues with them as well.
The seattle tunnel got wood from fill dirt placed there many many years ago (it is along the downtown seattle waterfront) stuck in its boring head which clogged the areas where cooling water was injected (if I remember correctly) and the boring head overheated and destroyed the seal around the boring head..
I believe I am remembering the sequence of events correctly. ....i know it was some wood fibers clogging something up and causing overheating.
Then since it was not in place that was easily accessible to get the boring head out and the repairs were very very extensive....it took forever to get up and running again.
It just in the last few weeks reached its end point and is being cut apart and removed in pieces.
The tunnel will be great, the tolls will not (present day bridge is not tolled) and the waterfront will be opened up to development of high rise condos which will have unimpeded views of Elliot Bay.
The 3 billion will be recouped in a few years by increased property taxes and they will still jam the toll down our throat....imagine a toll to drive basically from the north end of the city to the south end....which is really just ablut 2.5 miles in distance and the tunnel is probably half of that.
Yup, just like the NJ Tpke, NY Thruway and Garden State Pkwy. I got some old state issued road maps of those highways from the 50’s. They said that the bonds that funded those roads were expected to be paid in full with interest by the mid 1990’s and the tolls removed. HA!
A Syracuse native here- I’m roaring with laughter that Syracuse thinks they will get a tunnel. There isn’t much rush hour there as it’s an economic wasteland. The cost of the tunnel would be double the value of all the real estate in Syracuse combined. It’s now just a college town and a tunnel there would be ludicrous.
The whole “we’re against an elevated I-81” thing came up about 20 years ago when libtards claimed the elevated highway separated Brick City (ghetto housing) from the university (thank god).
Good luck, Salt City!
actually the PA Turnpike was always big on political patronage, same with the bridges to NJ
“They” ALWAYS spew such lies to sell their schemes.
“They” who have passed on should be exhumed and posthumously burned at the stake.
“They” who yet live should be imprisoned for the remainder of their lives as punishment for the misery they have perpetrated.
“...the two original bores were opened in 1937 (as the Broadway Low Level Tunnel) are so narrow that with today’s cars they are exceedingly slow.”
Huh. Compared to the Fourth Bore, yeah, but — really now — truck traffic uses them just fine, and I’ve gone through side-by side with a semi more than once. FEELS tight, but it’s not THAT bad; no worse than 880 coming through Oakland down around Fruitvale or High Street. Not as if there’s all THAT much skill involved; it’s all in the mind.
If there’s no phobic creature in front of me undergoing psychic trauma over the size of the nearing portal, I shoot right on through without so much as a blip on the brake. I’ve withered the mind of more than one shrinking Berkeleyan piloting my 15-passenger van through those holes at 65mph. Honestly, the tunnels proper aren’t that tight; what’s a bit iffy is the exit at the east end where you crest the grade, two sets of two lanes become one brace of four, again; and you sweep through an easy s-curve all at the same time. That’s where I always see the brake lights blossoming.
I’m hoping for the completion of the 710 under South Pasadena...
what should the toll be for the 710 tunnel ?
A economic toll would be $25 bucks rush hour, $10 daytime, $5 late night.
that might just barely cover the capital costs and maintence
$25 for a semi, maybe. No automobile driver is going to drive through that for $25.
I drove through the eastbound Caldecott Tunnel on a Sunday. Pretty gloomy looking inside. But since the tube I used was built in 1937, no wonder.
As far as traffic goes, I whizzed through the tunnel with no problem.
if no
driver is willing to pay the cost of building the tunnel; then it shouldn’t get built.
it’s called capitalism
Syracuse is prosperous compared to Hartford CT (second lowest per capital income in the nation). Gov. Malloy’s answer—build a tunnel!
It probably won’t happen though—it might disturb the sacred burial grounds of Hartford’s murder victims. ;-)
We went into Oakland at about 2 p.m. Friday, and returned through the Caldecott a little after 3 and the eastbound lanes were already backed up to the Rockridge BART station. But when we exited the tunnel, there was no backup and everyone was at or above the limit. The tunnel is definitely a choke point, and it’s mostly because it’s narrow and dark. The new #4 bore is probably almost four lanes wide (striped down to two) in and of itself, and people fly through it. Just wonder when they decide the old tunnel needs to be replaced, what they will do because it will have to be taken out of service to be rebuilt.
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