Mayor Ed Murray says that if the state and
its contractors can't fix the tunnel machine, the city will look at
alternatives to the deep-bore tunnel.
http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/murray-on-tunnel-june-2014
Last night, at a taping of Seattle
Channel's "Ask the Mayor" at the New Holly Gathering Hall in Southeast
Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray said that if the companies that are digging the
downtown deep-bore tunnel can't figure out a way to fix their
Hitachi-built tunnel boring machine (AKA Bertha) and get it digging
again (the machine has been stalled since December, and the state
department of transportation has confirmed that tunneling won't get
underway again until next March at the earliest), the city will have to
"step in with alternate plans," like a cut-and-cover tunnel.
"This is a very important
corridor and it’s an incredible opportunity for us to restore our
waterfront. But it’s not going to be easy. It’s very complicated. I’m
not going to sugar coat this. This is a significant challenge. If the
companies are not able to fix Bertha then we will work cooperatively
with the state to make that work.
"Is it a cut and cover? We
definitely need the capacity through there. So we’re going to have to
look at alternatives. But I think right now the only alternative is to
work with the companies [to ensure] that they get the tunnel dug in a
reasonable amount of time."