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Tunnel Boring Machine To Begin Trek To North Shore

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Aug 18, 2008 3:08 pm US/Eastern

Tunnel Boring Machine To Begin Trek To North Shore

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The drilling machine for the new North Shore Connector is one week away from beginning its trek back under the Allegheny River.

The 500-ton drill finished its first run from the North Shore to Downtown back in July and crews are working this week to get it ready to go.

"Mostly because they took their time getting from the North Shore to downtown," said Port Authority Spokesperson Judy McNeil. "Just to make sure they knew what type of materials they would be running into. Particularly in downtown Pittsburgh where there might be a utility line, concrete, or a wall you didn't know about".

McNeil recalls the dense clay and group of buried trees the boring machine hit on the north shore.

It gummed up the machine and pipes, delaying the project.

But on the return trip, crews are ready.

"There are things they have to do along the way, to have to check the cutting head and the teeth and make sure they're still sharp enough to make it through bedrock," said McNeil. "It's a methodical process".

Crews are working to put in place all the electrical work that will follow the borer back to the North Shore.

They will spend the rest of the week preparing the massive drill so that it can begin boring as early as next Monday moving just 35 feet a day.

It should emerge from the North Shore by the end of the year.


(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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