Photo Courtesy of WSDOT Seals surrounding a tunnel-boring machine's main bearing were manufactured in Japan and are now damaged, but the project contractor believes the actual bearing is still sound. Related Links: Divers Searching for Way To Get TBM 'Bertha' Moving Again http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/transportation/2013/1213-divers-searching-for-way-to-get-tbm-bertha-moving-again.asp Bertha, the 57.5-ft-dia tunnel-boring machine attempting to dig a 1.7-mile state Route 99 tunnel underneath Seattle, is stuck again, having progressed 4 ft after a delay in December. Now, Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), a joint venture of Dragados USA and Tutor Perini Corp., have decided to build a shaft in order to reach the TBM after discovering

Contractors modernizing a 55-year-old, legendary Southeast racetrack are pushing the limits of technology as they scramble to complete the complex project.

Related Links: As $400M Daytona Speedway Redo Revs Up, Other Southeast Sports Projects Get Ready 49ers Use 'Integrated Bridging Design-Build' to Speed Stadium Construction At Barton Malow Co.'s Daytona Beach, Fla., construction office, just down the street from the Daytona International Speedway, numerous wooden tables completely fill a large back office. But instead of printed blueprints, contractors focus intently on their smart boards, Apple TV screens and iPads as they race to transform NASCAR’s most well-known racetrack.The Michigan-based contractor is leading the venue’s $400-million renovation project—which Daytona International Speedway (DIS) is calling Daytona Rising—that will completely transform the 55-year-old racetrack

When a bridge collapses on the busy Interstate 5 artery in Washington state, fast-tracking seems an understatement.

Barnhart led the lifting and rigging firm that successfully planned and executed the touchy operation of transporting, hoisting and assembling in Seattle, the world's largest TBM.

Debra Sterling wants to get girls jazzed about engineering long before they graduate high school—the time when she first ventured into the profession.

Related Links: Anchorage, Alaska Port Expansion Problems Spark Dissension on Project Team Officials in Anchorage, Alaska, are hopeful that a new project manager can finally finish a port expansion that remains a decade late and up to $300 million over budget.The city said on Jan. 2 that it has selected CH2M Hill Cos. to manage construction.Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan said the firm, whose selection still must be approved by city legislators on Jan. 14, can "set time lines and benchmarks to make sure the project is on time and meeting the expectation of the municipality."CH2M Hill beat out six other

Related Links: Steel Pipe Found Stuck in Bertha's Cutterhead When North America's largest tunnel-boring machine pushed a 50-ft-long, 8-in.-dia steel pipe seven feet out of the ground on Dec. 3, joint-venture contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners and Washington State Dept. of Transportation officials didn't think much of it."Bertha," the 57.5-ft-dia machine, kept churning its state Route 99 tunnel path below Seattle at faster-than-predicted paces. But only for three more days.Now, that pipe—a well casing put in place in 2002 to measure groundwater movement following the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the very same earthquake that serves as the catalyst for Bertha boring a

Courtesy WSDOT Operators monitor progress from Bertha's control room. Courtesy WSDOT Largest TBM in North America, measuring 57.5 ft in dia, is temporarily stuck along its 1.7-mile underground course. Related Links: Big Tunneler Headed For New State Route 99 Site People Dig Tunnel Boring Machines That Tweet Joint-venture contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners needs divers to enter the chamber behind a tunnel-boring machine’s cutting head to investigate what possibly slowed—and subsequently forced a shutdown of—North America’s largest TBM, nicknamed "Bertha." The 57.5-ft-dia TBM is attempting to bore a 1.7-mile Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement under downtown Seattle. On Friday, Dec. 6, Bertha, which

Related Links: Redesign Required For $4.1-billion Project's Pontoons Cracks Delay Work at Floating Bridge Project in Washington State Construction of 77 concrete pontoons for the replacement of the world's longest floating bridge has reached the halfway point. Redesigned cycle 3 pontoons are floating toward the Seattle jobsite.The new $954-million, 7,710-ft-long State Route 520 bridge connecting Seattle to points east across Lake Washington is part of a larger $4.13-billion project.Joint-venture prime contractor Kiewit-General-Mason is following a sequence of six pontoon cycles. Tugboats began towing the first two cycle 3 pontoons to the lake in mid-October, with others right behind. Cycle 3