Seattle local business news and data – Architecture & Engineering

June 23, 2021

Book details Seattle tunnel project

After the successful entry and exit of the “Bertha” at the north portal shaft location on April 14, 2017, crew members and managers raise their hats. Bertha, the tunnel boring machine named after Seattle’s first mayor Bertha Landes, could no longer be saved and was dismantled in the following four months.

In the start zone at the southern end of the tunnel project, where the drilling machine began its journey under Seattle in 2013, a worker emerges from the tunnel mouth. Before the inner carriageway was built, the full diameter of the tunnel was visible, at 57.5 feet it was the largest tunnel in the world at the time.

Photographer Catherine Bassetti has published a new book about building the Highway 99 tunnel that runs under downtown Seattle.

Bassetti was the official on-site photographer / videographer for Seattle Tunnel Partners, the contractor for the tunnel, which opened on February 4, 2019. It replaced the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct, a two-story section of State Route 99 that ran along the Seattle waterfront.

In press materials, Bassetti said she had devoted the last two years to producing the book, Building Seattle’s State Route 99 Supertunnel – Journey from Light to Light.

She said the 190-page large hardcover publication covers a five-year period (2014-2019) of this technical mega-project that broke records and defied all odds in the underground tunneling industry. She said the book highlighted six work areas, events and milestones, and was accompanied by comments from key contributors, civic leaders and crew members.

It celebrates “Bertha”, the largest tunnel boring machine in the world at the time, and the viaduct.

The nearly 3.2 km long tunnel follows a winding path along Seattle’s waterfront, Elliott Bay, and part of the downtown business district, and ends at the North Portal on Sixth Avenue North and Thomas Street, next to the Seattle Center and Space Needle .

From 100 feet in the air to 30 feet underground, the book gives readers an overview of all the facets involved in building the two-story, two-lane highway beneath the city, Bassetti said.

It’s available at https://www.thesupertunnel.com/ for $ 68 or from Amazon.com for $ 68.95.

Bassetti’s career spanned 30 years as a photographer for corporate, public and private clients in the US and abroad.