urbanMSP

Wasn't really a question, but that quote is gross. Thank goodness a multi-level tunneled road system is beyond impractical.

They should keep all the parking in the tunnel, too. Some folks could start living like Edgar Friendly.

Norway wants to build a ship tunnel...

http://www.drivespark.com/off-beat/norw ... 21240.html

You read that right.

My professor in Norway told us about this in 2015. I guess if it makes the trip safer then props to them.

Quite amazing how many rail tunnels there are in Oslo, not just for the T-Bane (Metro) but also for regional trains. Makes me wonder what the public process is for these projects (if there are any) while here we can barely get through building a short tunnel for light rail trains (Kenwood).

Norway has insane amounts of oil money and a pretty homogenous and liberal population. Very different from here.

NOVA special on Cross Rail tunnel construction in London. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/super-tunnel.html

I'd like to see a similar special on the tunneling that Seattle has done for transit - Seattle seems to be alone in the U.S. in a) doing lots of new transit tunneling and b) being successful and below budget with it. Maybe Thatcher could be interviewed for it.

Ha, I'm not doing anything on the tunnels except trying to get TOD done adjacent a future tunnel station. Though we are trying to figure out how to better integrate transit infrastructure with stations, push for incidental uses, and think about how we have more direct connections between stations and communities and adjacent buildings.

I do know that the agency no longer references the names of tunnel boring machines and just calls them TBM 1 and TBM 2. People were getting to attached to them.

I'd like to see a similar special on the tunneling that Seattle has done for transit - Seattle seems to be alone in the U.S. in a) doing lots of new transit tunneling and b) being successful and below budget with it. Maybe Thatcher could be interviewed for it.

The only tunnel I'm aware of currently under construction in Seattle is to replace the Alaskan Viaduct, and to say it has been successful and under budget is a bit of a stretch.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-new ... 99-tunnel/

Steve, I think he's referencing the recently tunneled sections for rail. The Alaskan Viaduct project has not gone well and is an atypical project anyway, with the large diameter tunnel that went through some really sketchy soils (and got stuck).

The extension to UW was delivered under budget: http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound ... pitol-hill

The tunnel boring to extend the rail north of UW is also complete and now they're constructing cross passages and stations:
http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound ... ining-last

This is such a boring conversation.

A few days ago Bertha broke through.

http://nypost.com/2017/04/04/worlds-lar ... =applenews

And for a much lighter boring topic, or maybe burrowing ...

http://www.sciencealert.com/this-massiv ... ega-sloths

Massive ancient tunnels in South America were burrowed by extinct giant sloths.

It feels like Elon Musk is edging closer and closer to rediscovering subways.

https://electrek.co/2017/04/28/elon-mus ... ept-video/

His Boring Company concept video shows cars driving on to platforms that zoom drivers through tunnels underground at very fast speeds.

More like he's rediscovering slot cars.

To me that seems like another Hyperloop/PRT/Monorail idea that will be championed by a few very passionate individuals but never be taken seriously. However, if in the process he makes building subway lines cheaper, I'm not complaining.

"MAN WHO OWNS CAR COMPANY THINKS WE SHOULD BUILD PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM FOR CARS"
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/ ... usk-boring

Right? Look to the auto industry to solve questions, and unsurprisingly they'll come up with auto industry-oriented answers.

Awesome video everyone should check out.

https://boringcompany.com/

Man, if only we could make that system more efficient by utilizing super-high capacity vehicles instead of single-occupancy cars.