Seattle Tunnel Partners submits revised Bertha schedule

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Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow Jan 12, 2018

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Seattle Tunnel Partners submits revised Bertha schedule</h1>
                <h2><p>Two weeks later than expected, private contractor group Seattle Tunnel Partners submitted a revised schedule for the Highway 99 tunnel project Friday. According to Washington Department of Transportation Communication Director Laura Newborn, the tunnel boring machine Bertha will resume tunneling in November, three months later than first expected. The underground</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/ashli-blow/">Ashli Blow</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Two weeks later than expected, private contractor group Seattle Tunnel Partners submitted a revised schedule for the Highway 99 tunnel project Friday. According to Washington Department of Transportation Communication Director Laura Newborn, the tunnel boring machine Bertha will resume tunneling in November, three months later than first expected. The underground highway is now scheduled to open to drivers in spring 2018, several months later than the already revised winter 2017 estimate.</p><p>Crews are currently working on replacing Bertha's main bearing, which suffered significant damages after the machine overheated in December 2013. After more than a year of mystery, there is still no word on what, or who, is responsible for the machine's issues. A full report is <a href="http://crosscut.com/2015/07/new-bertha-delay-and-little-confidence-its-the-last-one/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">here</a>.</p><p><em>Updated. Originally posted at 5:44 a.m.</em></p>
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Two weeks later than expected, private contractor group Seattle Tunnel Partners submitted a revised schedule for the Highway 99 tunnel project Friday. According to Washington Department of Transportation Communication Director Laura Newborn, the tunnel boring machine Bertha will resume tunneling in November, three months later than first expected. The underground highway is now scheduled to open to drivers in spring 2018, several months later than the already revised winter 2017 estimate.

Crews are currently working on replacing Bertha's main bearing, which suffered significant damages after the machine overheated in December 2013. After more than a year of mystery, there is still no word on what, or who, is responsible for the machine's issues. A full report is here.

Updated. Originally posted at 5:44 a.m.

By Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal