Project managers are struggling with how to remove �Rainier,� a tunnel-boring machine that is stuck 330 ft underground since last year. Until the rig is moved, the area�s $1.8-billion Brightwater treatment plant can�t be finished.
“As of May 1, we have no way to remove it and are still working on a plan,” says Gunars Sreibers, project manager with King County, Wash. The tunnel, located 11 miles north of Seattle in Bothell, is designed to handle wastewater from King County’s northern reaches and part of neighboring Snohomish County. The majority of the project is expected to be complete in 2011.