Bertha

Read more about the technical challenges and rising costs of the Highway 99 tunnel project, and the successes and travails of Bertha, the biggest-ever boring machine.

Latest Headlines

The Legislative Building is viewed through a light morning fog, Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., on opening day of the Washington Legislature. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) WATW101

January 28, 2020 at 6:00 am

Washington lawmakers have another plan to cut Sound Transit car-tab taxes

The bill would change the formula used to calculate Sound Transit car-tab taxes, offering a modest break for vehicle owners in areas of King, Snohomish...

Fly the SR 99 tunnel – from the Space Needle to the stadiums. Now that the tunneling machine Bertha’s work is complete, it’s possible to fly a drone with a video camera from end-to-end inside Seattle’s SR 99 tunnel. In two minutes, you’ll see two miles of ongoing construction work. The upper roadway of the tunnel’s double-deck highway is more than 85% complete. Up next? Installation of the lower roadway, and all the systems it takes to operate a modern tunnel.

October 20, 2017 at 11:10 am

Check out this new drone footage of the Bertha-dug Highway 99 tunnel WATCH

Workers have completed 85 percent of the tunnel's upper deck, which can be seen in the video. The 1.7-mile tunnel bypassing downtown Seattle is expected...

Giant tunneling machine Bertha breaks through the north portal wall on Tuesday April 4th, 2017 after years of delays. (Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times)

August 23, 2017 at 3:10 pm

Watch: From disassembly pit, crews haul away last bits of Bertha WATCH

This new time-lapse video shows crews cutting and hauling away sections of the giant drill since it broke daylight in April.

All 2000 tons of Bertha’s cutter head assembly is above ground, Mon., March. 30, 2015, in Seattle.

August 19, 2017 at 8:00 am

Insurance lawyers’ new findings increase arguments in case of Bertha machine breakdown

Insurance-company lawyers argue Highway 99 tunnel builders concocted the theory that a leftover pipe damaged tunnel machine Bertha.

Near the north entrance to the new tunnel, loading workers get ready to load two of Bertha’s two control panels (foreground and at right) and a 600-lb. cutting blade (in background) onto the truck in background. They will then be taken to MOHAI’s resource center in Georgetown Friday, August 4, 2017. The objects will be cleaned and saved for a future MOHAI display in their museum at South Lake Union in Seattle.

August 4, 2017 at 8:44 pm

MOHAI takes Bertha’s control-room consoles for a future display

Two control-room consoles and four cutting pieces from retired tunnel-boring machine Bertha will be displayed someday at the Museum of History & Industry.

Tunneling crew members including Jake Chopic, left, with Seattle Tunnel Partners, emerges from the cutter head after the giant tunneling machine Bertha broke into daylight as the giant drill chewed through the side of the disassembly vault and broke through the north portal wall on Tuesday April 4th, 2017 after nearly four years of boring underneath downtown Seattle.

July 14, 2017 at 3:37 pm

Watch: Inside Highway 99 tunnel, crews disassemble Bertha's back end WATCH

This new time-lapse video shows crews cutting and hauling away sections of the giant drill's rear over more than a month.

May 26, 2017 at 10:41 am

Port of Seattle might display chunks of Bertha it saved from being scrapped

The Port of Seattle claimed two historic pieces of tunnel-boring machine Bertha, and could give them to another group or display them at its own...

Friday, May 19, 2017. Craig McNeil who is part of Berthaâ€™s disassembly crew cuts a 50 ton chunk of the cutter head that will be lifted up and away from Bertha. Itâ€™s been two weeks into Berthaâ€™s disassembly, there are 4-5 months to go.

May 20, 2017 at 7:00 am

With torches and a crane, crews dismantle Bertha’s massive cutter head chunk by chunk

Crews are chopping up Bertha’s massive cutter head and hauling the pieces away to be melted down and recycled. The disassembly is employing dozens of...

May 12, 2017 at 6:30 am

Readers brainstorm Bertha’s future: as sculpture, display, souvenirs …

Via social media, phone calls and emails, people brainstormed plans ranging from preserving the massive machine’s cutterface with art installations to revving it up for...

April 27, 2017 at 6:00 am

Highway 99 tolling: Here’s how much you could pay, according to new analysis

What had looked like a solution for the problem of setting toll prices on the tunnel will not raise enough money to cover existing debts,...

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