
Proposed Seattle Bored Tunnel Underground Simulation (2010) - curtis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWfwnkEbc4Q&feature=youtu.be
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bunkat
This project is a mess. The boring has stopped until 2015 due to damage done
to the drill and the cost has been steadily increasing. You can read more at
[http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024187017_berthadela...](http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024187017_berthadelay1xml.html).
Turns out that boring large tunnels under cities is never straightforward.

~~~
curtis
The fact that there's been a setback does not mean that the project has turned
into a disaster. In a really big, multi-year project things can go wrong, they
can be dealt with, and the project can be completed successfully.

In the case of stuck tunnel boring machines, a good example is the second St.
Clair Tunnel
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair_Tunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair_Tunnel)).
The Seattle Times has a good article about the problems encountered with the
St. Clair Tunnel and how that relates to the Seattle Deep Bore tunnel:
"Canada’s tunnel saga offers lessons on Bertha fix"
([http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022905964_berthasarn...](http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022905964_berthasarniaxml.html)).

The conclusion of the article nicely sums things up:

> Arguments over costs in Sarnia dragged on until 2008, when the Supreme Court
> of Canada decided who must pay $36 million for repairs and delays — the CN
> Railway’s insurers.

> By then, double-stacked trains had been using the tunnel between Canada and
> the U.S. nearly 14 years, and the seven-month delay was long forgotten.

> Until now.

Now maybe other things will go wrong, and the project really will be a fiasco.
But I don't think we're anywhere near that point yet.

