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Massive tunneling machine stuck under downtown Seattle, fix could cost taxpayers millions
Fox News / Politics ^ | May 8, 2014 | Dan Springer

Posted on 05/08/2014 5:57:18 PM PDT by Veto!

By Dan SpringerPublished May 08, 2014FoxNews.comFacebook476 Twitter508 Gplus0

At 57 feet in diameter, it's touted as the world's biggest tunneling machine. It was even given a name, Bertha.

But now, after digging just over 1,000 feet, Bertha is broken down and stuck underneath Seattle's downtown waterfront.

And fixing the massive mess could cost taxpayers millions.

The tunneling machine is the key workhorse in a $3.1 billion tunnel project aimed at replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct, a double-decker elevated highway that was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Bertha's meltdown, though, has put the project in jeopardy of being the West Coast version of the biggest public works boondoggle in U.S. history,

Read on for the unbelievably stupid details…..

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fubar; liberals; politics; seatle; seattle; tunnel; tunnelingmachine; waste
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To: Secret Agent Man

China expects to be here with high speed rail soon.


41 posted on 05/08/2014 7:52:31 PM PDT by mcshot (..."And this too shall end.")
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To: Veto!

I’m sure there’s an app for that.


42 posted on 05/08/2014 7:53:24 PM PDT by TChad (The Obamacare motto: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.)
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To: Chode

No idea, I’m not bright enough to be mechanical, just dumb enough to be civil. We’s just helping dig the hole to get down to the TBM so the clever Japanese can fix it


43 posted on 05/08/2014 7:56:04 PM PDT by lump in the melting pot (Half-brother is Watching You!)
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To: Veto!

The crew is still getting paid aren’t they?


44 posted on 05/08/2014 7:57:29 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: lump in the melting pot
guess their stock has or will take a big hit
45 posted on 05/08/2014 8:04:34 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: jttpwalsh

Bttt.


46 posted on 05/08/2014 8:15:55 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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To: JRandomFreeper

” Didn’t they have one of those in Shelbyville?”

Indeed. And the outcome there was no better than the situation with “Bertha”.


47 posted on 05/08/2014 8:18:01 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Veto!

Politicians love these huge spending projects. Plenty of campaign donations, kickbacks, and do-nothing jobs for friends come out of them.


48 posted on 05/08/2014 8:23:12 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Baynative; All

When you dig through the fill of the Glacial Till,
It jiggles and wiggles ‘neath the tide.
A Hollywood Terror Film it sure would make,
When the tunnel is filled: SPLASH! after a ‘quake!

Oh who wanted to dig ‘neath Puget Sound?
Was it those of “Seattle Street” or the anti-profit crowd?
Or was it “Shovel-Ready” dollars that turned it around?

A Waterfront Park might best replace,
The planner’s pet project that treadmills taxpayers cash.
To copy Vancouver BC would harm civic pride,
So Seattle must keep on digging to save face.


49 posted on 05/08/2014 8:26:09 PM PDT by Graewoulf (Democrats' Obamacare Socialist Health Insur. Tax violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: Inyo-Mono

;)


50 posted on 05/08/2014 8:30:18 PM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: blueplum
Did the contractor not have someone walking the drill path?

The wellhead can be buried yards below the today's surface; or it can be in one of millions of manholes; or it can be in a basement of a new building; or it can be on inaccessible territory; or it can be misidentified; or it can be marked as completely or partially removed, when in fact the casing is still in the ground. Tunnelling under cities is hard exactly for that reason - too many old, abandoned obstacles or essential but poorly marked communications.

51 posted on 05/08/2014 8:33:04 PM PDT by Greysard
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To: Veto!
I don't know why the taxpayers continue supporting these bums. Libtard ideology trumps logic every time

Because the low-information voters know that the Hackorama RATs are smarter than they are.

52 posted on 05/08/2014 8:33:44 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month.)
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To: Veto!
"And fixing the massive mess could cost taxpayers millions."

COULD cost taxpayers? WILL cost taxpayers!
53 posted on 05/08/2014 8:36:39 PM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: Veto!

Considering what taxpayers will be faced with they should call this the “Big Gouge.” Pun intended.


54 posted on 05/08/2014 8:38:26 PM PDT by QT3.14
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To: jttpwalsh

I want to save your little story because my daughter has expressed an interest in moving there after she graduates college.


55 posted on 05/08/2014 8:40:11 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

In the early 50s Walt Disney offered to run the Disneyland monorail into downtown Anaheim at no charge to the city. The city took a pass.


56 posted on 05/08/2014 8:42:36 PM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: Veto!
Bertha. What a SLUT!


57 posted on 05/08/2014 8:47:26 PM PDT by Daffynition (I stand with the Bundy Family!)
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To: Inyo-Mono

My daughter was scouting out apartments, when we went there to visit relatives; fortunately, she came to her senses ;)


58 posted on 05/08/2014 9:06:30 PM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: Veto!

A big tunnel in Seattle sounds like it would become a storm drain for a lahar at some point.


59 posted on 05/08/2014 9:15:28 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: Graewoulf

That’s really good. You should send it over to our friend David Bose at KTTH.


60 posted on 05/08/2014 9:30:28 PM PDT by Baynative (How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)
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