Bertha breakthrough in photos and drone video

Stars and Stripes for Bertha
Photo courtesy WSDOT

Bertha, the tunnel boring machine digging the tunnel for SR 99 that will replace the viaduct on the Seattle waterfront, finally made it through to the end, finishing her tunneling work Thursday.

WSDOT has a photo album here.

Tidying up after Bertha breakthrough
Photo courtesy WSDOT

You can see drone video of the breakthrough online, or other conversation on the WSDOT Facebook page. Now that the tunneling machine has chewed the future SR 99 tunnel, crews will spend the next several days removing steel support braces then drive her into the open area to be cut into pieces for removal.

The new SR 99 tunnel is scheduled to open in early 2019. The double decker highway will have two lanes in each direction as well as an 8 foot safety shoulder.