The California Department of Transportation is inviting bids, deadline 2nd September, 2006 for contract 04-1123U4, project plans for construction on state highway in San Mateo County near Pacifica from km 4.7 to km 1 south of Lindamar Boulevard, including construction of the Devil's Slide twin bore tunnel (1,220 m). The tunnel will be 9.15 m wide, with 2.45 m wide shoulders, and will cross the San Pedro mountains. Contact Department of Transportation, Plans and Bid Documents, Room 0200, MS #26, Transportation Building, 1120 N Street, Sacramento, California 95814. Tel. +1 9166544490, fax +1 9166547028, e-mail Duty_Senior_District04@dot.ca.govThe sequential excavation method (SEM) will be employed to excavate and support the mined tunnels of both standard and enlarged cross sections, cross passages, equipment chambers, access passages, shotcrete canopies at south portals, and niches. The SEM utilizes NATM principles, modified so as to predetermine the various support measures required, defined as support categories, along different parts of the tunnels. The support requirements are determined in advance to suite generalized conditions along the tunnel and support measures are changed to maintain stability and safety of the excavation. The SEM utilizes a set of support measures for each category including the following: lattice girders, ground water drainage, grouted steel pipes (pipe arch canopy), rock dowels of different types, spiles of different types, face bolts and reinforced shotcrete. Read E-News Weekly 40/2004 & 37/2004. For full details, visit www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/oe/project_ads_addenda/04/04-1123U4/pdf/04-1123U4sp.pdf and www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/construction/Inquiries/04-1123U4_inquiry.html. Visit also www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/dslide 31-32/06.The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) opened the bidding process on 21st November, 2006 for potential builders of a tunnel under Montara Mountain on the coast of San Mateo County that would serve as a bypass to the Devil's Slide area on state Highway 1. The department now has 30 calendar days to choose between two separate bids. One bid, proposed by Kiewit Pacific, would cost nearly USD272.4 million, USD32 million over what Caltrans predicted, and the construction work would take an estimated 1,500 days. Another bid was put up by a joint venture of three construction companies - Shea, Traylor and Atkinson. Their offer was nearly USD50 million more costly than the first and the companies estimate it would take 1,900 days to complete the tunnel. After a winning bid is selected, work on the tunnel could begin as early as summer 2007. Click us/93. Visit www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/dslide/index.html 49/06.

Request for Information, deadline 14th January, 2005 to seek statements of interest for the design, construction, improvement, maintenance and/or operation of a second Midtown tunnel under the Elizabeth River and approach roads between Portsmouth and Norfolk. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will consider responses and determine whether to solicit conceptual proposals.The proposed Midtown Tunnel Corridor Project is located between the Interchange of Martin Luther King (Route 58) and western freeways in Portsmouth and Brambleton Avenue in Norfolk. The new crossing would carry a 4-lane tunnel. The existing Midtown tunnel (1,280 m) opened in 1962. Contact Virginia Department of Transportation, Daniele J. Noland, Project Manager, Innovative Project Delivery Division, 1401 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219. Visit www.virginiadot.org/business/resources/rfi-mtcp.pdf 46/04.Solicitation for conceptual proposals, deadline 29th September, 2008 for improvements to the Downtown tunnel, the Midtown tunnel and the Martin Luther King (MLK) freeway extension between Norfolk and Portsmouth in the Hampton Roads area, as part of a plan to make an estimated USD1 billion. The project is comprised of a new two-lane tunnel under the Elizabeth river parallel to the existing Midtown tunnel, maintenance and safety improvements to the existing Midtown tunnel, minor modifications to the interchange at Brambleton/Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk, maintenance and safety improvements to the existing Downtown tunnel, and extending the MLK from LondonBoulevard to Interstate 264 (I-264), with an interchange at High Street. The project includes the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance. The entire project will be financed through tolls through a public-private partnership. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will award a contract by 2010 and complete construction by 2015. Visit www.virginiadot.org/projects/hamptonroads/downtown_tunnel-midtown_tunnel-mlk_extension.asp 25/08.

A joint venture between Skanska Infrastructure Development and Macquarie Group worth US$2.1 Billion was approved by Virginia Department of Transport to build a new Midtown Tunnel and to rehabilitate the existing Midtown tunnel in Virginia. The tunnels cross the main channel of the Elizabeth River in the South Hampton Roads area of Virginia, linking the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. For more information please click here and here 49/11

USDOT has approved a loan of USD422 million for Virginia for an immediate start to construction of the new Midtown tunnel and rehabilitation of existing links. VDOT is in a PPP with Elizabeth River Crossings, a JV of Skanska and Macquarie, which will finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the tunnels under a 58-year concession. Visit us/92 and http://midtowntunnel.org/. 16/12.

Transdyn was selected to design, build, and maintain an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and Facilities Management SCADA System for the EUR1.11 billion (US$1.45 billion) Elizabeth River Tunnels Project in the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Elizabeth River Crossings (ERC) have partnered to construct a new Midtown Tunnel, rehabilitate the existing Midtown and Downtown tunnels, and extend the Martin Luther King (MLK) Expressway. Construction started last 10.01.2013. Click us/92. Visit http://driveert.com/ and www.transdyn.com. 15/13.

Black & Veatch has been awarded a contract by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) to perform an alignment study and detailed design for the Bi-County Water Supply Main Project. The approximately 9,150 m-long, 2.1 m-diameter supply main will help WSSC meet increasing water consumption needs in Prince George's County and provide reliable system pressure in Montgomery County. The study phase of the project includes assessment of social and community impacts and an extensive community outreach programme, as well as geophysical testing to define rock profile and subsurface characteristics. The study requires careful consideration and balancing of technical, economic, public, political and environmental factors to identify the preferred alignment and best method of construction. Construction alternatives under consideration are cut-and-cover pipeline, hard rock tunnel and a combination of methods. The alignment study is scheduled for completion in mid to late 2005, and the detailed design will be completed approximately one year later. When construction is completed (estimated 2008) , the new supply main will provide reliable conveyance of drinking water and help maintain pressure in the distribution system. Visit www.bv.com and www.wsscwater.com 42/04.

  While the West Side CSO tunnel is under construction to reduce sewage into the Willamette river, the 9.15 km East Side CSO tunnel is under design. Currently, the planned interior diameter of the tunnel is approximately 6.7 m while the outer diameter of the tunnel is approximately 7.6 m. The final size of the tunnel and the liner are still being evaluated and have not been finalised yet. The tunnel is planned to be excavated through the use of a pressure face TBM to maintain face stability and minimise ground losses in the soft ground conditions. Two types of closed face TBMs were identified for potential use on this project: slurry face and earth pressure balance machines. It is currently assumed that two TBMs would be used to complete the project. The two TBMs that are being used for the West Side CSO tunnel would not be used on the East Side due to their different diameters. The lining is expected to consist of bolted precast reinforced concrete segments. The mucking-out technique has not yet been evaluated and will be dependent on the selected tunnelling equipment. Options for discharge and transport of excavated material include conveyor, truck, barge and/or rail. The five shortlisted JVs are Bouygues / Traylor / J.F. Shea; Flatiron / Wayss & Freytag / Fluor; Impregilo / S.A. Healy / Obayashi; ESCSO Tunnel Constructors which consists of Morgan Est, Arup and Soletanche Bachy; and Kiewit / Bilfinger Berger. A Notice to Proceed to begin construction of the project is anticipated to be issued to the selected contractor in January of 2006. It is currently estimated that tunnelling would begin on May 2007 and end on July 2010. More in E-News Weekly 40/2004. Visit www.portlandonline.com/cso 40/04.The City of Portland will negotiate with a JV of Kiewit and Bilfinger Berger for a contract to build the East Side Big Pipe. Construction will start in 2006 on the final project in the city's combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The East Side Big Pipe will be a 9 km 6.5 m-diameter tunnel to capture sewage and stormwater on the east side of the Willamette River and carry it to the wastewater treatment plant. The Portland City Council will consider approving the pre-construction contract in late March. Construction is estimated to cost approximately USD500 million and will be finished in 2011. Visit www.portlandonline.com/cso, www.kiewit.com/eastsidecso and www.bilfinger.de 06/05.

  Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded a USD600 million contract to Eastside LRT Constructors, a JV of Washington Group International, Obayashi and Shimmick Construction for building of the 9.6 km East Los Angeles extension of the Gold Line. Running from the present Gold Line terminus at Union Station, it will run through the densely-populated areas of Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. There will be eight stations at Little Tokyo/Arts District, Pico/Aliso, Mariachi Plaza, Soto Street, Indiana, Maravilla, East LA Civic Center and Pomona/Atlantic. A 2.9 km twin-bore tunnel under Boyle Heights including two underground stations need to be built. The extension is expected to open in mid-2009. Visit www.mta.net, www.wgint.com and www.ocac.com 33-34/04.For the twin bored tunnels (2.75 km long) to be built under the Boyle Heights neighbourhood of East Los Angeles, as part of the 9.6 km Gold Line eastside extension, the internal and external diameters will be 5.74 m and 6.27 m respectively. Two Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance TBMs will be used for tunnel excavation. The tunnels are expected to be constructed in alluvial soils consisting of dense to very dense coarse-grained soils, and stiff to hard low plasticity clays and silts. Groundwater levels vary from below to above the tunnel invert. Precast concrete bolted segments with 24 m of fabricated steel liners at Soto station connections. The number of segments per ring is five plus a key. They are being manufactured by Traylor Shea Ghazi Precast. Muck removal by locomotives and muck cars. There are two underground stations Boyle and Soto. The station platform lengths will be 82 m. The Boyle station will be the first underground station as the trains are running outbound from downtown Los Angeles. The excavation is about 183 m long by 18 m wide. A cut-and-cover tunnel section extends from the west end of the station to the west portal. The second station excavation in Soto is about 100 m long x 18 m wide. The cut-and-cover method of construction with braced excavation will be used. Initial support system consists of soldier piles and lagging, deck beams and concrete decking. Other structures will include two portals at the west and east ends of the tunnel. Construction of the east portal has begun. Six crosspassages will also be constructed between tunnels. Currently, the Boyle station is being excavated and soldier piling is near completion at Soto station. TBMs are in fabrication. Tunnelling is scheduled to begin in December 2005. Click us/89. Visit www.mta.net, www.metro.net and www.herrenknecht.com 24/05.

  The Baumgartner Tunnel JV, including Frontier Kemper and Gunther-Nash, is to begin boring a 6,184 m-long 3.66 m-diameter gravity tunnel for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, as part of the Lower Meramec River System Improvement project. Under an agreement with the state of Missouri, the district must close the overloaded Baumgartner lagoon by 31st December, 2006 or face a penalty for each day the lagoon operates after the deadline. The USD45 million tunnel is part of a USD217 million project which includes also a sewage treatment plant on Fine Road. Sewage will travel in a reinforced concrete pipe inside the tunnel. The pipe will be 2.44 m in diameter. The space between it and the rock will be filled with grout.A reconditioned Wirth TBM 350-400E will be used about 58 m below ground. The tunnel will cross the Meramec River twice. Three major shafts will be constructed, namely a lift station approximately 30 m in diameter and 61 m deep, the 10.4 m-diameter exit shaft and the 11 m-diameter screen shaft. The cutting head is driven by 24 pressurised cylinders. Conveyor belts will haul the bored rock to a shaft at the treatment plant. The tunnel is slated to be finished by November 2005. Visit www.wirth-europe.com and www.frontier-kemper.com 33-34/04.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has been named construction manager for two interceptor tunnels being built on the Sacramento River by Affholder. PB is responsible for providing complete construction management services, including contract administration, quality assurance, schedule, cost control, inspection, construction staking, and materials testing for the County of Sacramento. Visit www.pbworld.comThe USD44 million tunnels are part of the lower northwest interceptor project being undertaken by the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District in Sacramento. The project consists of two bored tunnels of approximately 4.6 m excavated diameter. The Northern Sacramento River Crossing is 598 m-long while the Southern Sacramento River Crossing (SSRC) is 631 m-long. The tunnels will be inclined downwards at 6% from deep shafts on either side of the river. The geology consists of alluvial sand, silt and silty sand associated with recent Sacramento River channel deposits, overlain outside the river levees by clayey soils representing river flood deposits. Two Lovat EPB TBMs will be used, equipped with a screw conveyor at the bottom of the cutter head. Method of muck transport on 6% grade as yet not defined. Lining with gasketed, precast concrete segmental linings installed behind the TBMs, while the twin steel carrier pipes will be installed inside the excavated tunnels and shafts, and the tunnels backfilled with low density cellular concrete. Other underground structures at the NSRC include a 10.6 m-wide x 45.4 m-long x 8.5 m-deep launching shaft and a 7.6 m-wide x 15.2 m-long x 14.8 m-deep receiving shaft. At the SSRC, a 10.6 m-wide x 45.4 m-long x 8.8 m-deep launching shaft and a 7.6 m-wide x 15.2 m-long x 8.8 m-deep receiving shaft. Notice to proceed for work start on 23rd July, 2004 with expected end in September 2006. Visit www.lowernorthwest.com and www.lovat.com 29/04.A USD19.3 million construction contract was awarded to Affholder on 13th October, 2004 for construction of a 2,379 m 1.83 m-diameter gravity pipeline, a project known as Bradshaw Interceptor, section 8. Depth of installation averages 10.7-12.2 m to the invert of the pipe. The entire pipeline will be installed in a tunnel (two-pass tunnel in soft ground construction). Excavated diameter for the initial lining is 3.07 m diameter. Much of the area along the Bradshaw 8 alignment has been dredged for gold. Local dredging operations varied between 6.1-9.15 m in depth. Geotechnical data indicated the presence of coarsed-grained soil mixture, typically containing cobbles (7.62 to 30.5 cm in diameter) with occasional boulders up to 45.7 cm in size. The tunnel boring zone, which is below the dredged areas, is consisted of fined-grained soils with medium dense to very dense combination of sands, silts, and clays. The ground water level is much deeper at about 19.8-21.3 m below ground surface. However, perched water was found at the tunnel boring zone during soil borings. Notice to proceed with construction is set for 15th November, 2004. Because of mobilisation and construction of a launching shaft, approximately 9 m in diameter and 14 m deep, tunnelling will not start until January or February 2005. The contractor has 560 calendar days to finish the project in June 2006. Designer is Montgomery Watson Harza. Visit www.srcsd.com/prj-bradshaw-8.html and www.insituform.com/corporate/corp_affholder.html 47/04.

The City of Oxnard has awarded to Affholder a USD33.3 million contract to build two trunk sewers to serve the city and surrounding Ventura county. Both will eventually connect to Oxnard's planned USD39 million waste water treatment plant. Construction is set to commence in May on the nearly 5 km-long 1.5 m-diameter Redwood trunk sewer. The 3.2 km 1.07 m-diameter Ventura trunk segment will connect to the Redwood trunk sewer. Geology made of sandy silt. Microtunnelling will be used. Expected daily progress is 15 to 25 m. Depth of 7.5 to 9 m below the surface. Kennedy/Jenks Consultants are the designers of the Redwood trunk and Ventura trunk segments. Visit www.insituform.com and www.kennedyjenks.com 21/04.

Request for Qualification, deadline 27th April, 2006 for consultant construction management services (contract CM-1311) for the subway Line 7 extension to Hudson Yards in Brooklyn. This is a architecture/engineering consultant to oversee the construction projects as and when they are awarded. The issue of Request for Proposals is 15th May, 2006. The Receipt of Proposals is scheduled for 15th June, 2006 for award in July. The extension will travel from Time Square, its present terminal station, at 41st Street going west and then south down to 25th Street. The project also includes a station cavern at 34th Street and an open cut station at 10th Avenue/41st Street. The project will be a mix of drill-and-blast, cut-and-cover and TBM excavation. TBM requirements: 5.95 m internal diameter tunnel (plus construction tolerances), with precast segmental lining or cast-in-place lining. Full-face hard rock TBM with capability to negotiate short reaches of mixed face and possible soft ground conditions, including very strong and very/extremely abrasive rock (Manhattan schist and pegmatites). Option to utilize precast segmental lining systems, to be watertight undrained systems. New or refurbished gripper, shield or double-shield type TBMs equipped with provisions for drilling probe holes and grout holes, 5.2 cm or larger disc cutters and automated guidance system.Contact No. 7 Subway Extension - Hudson Yards Development, c/o MTA New York City Transit, Government & Community Relations, 130 Livingston Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 or Marsha Korotyk, Procurement Manager, tel. +1 646 2526236, fax +1 646 2526179, e-mail marsha.korotyk@nyct.com and Ronald Pezik, Procurement Senior Director, tel. +1 646 2526234, fax +1 646 2526179, e-mail ronald.pezik@nyct.com. Visit www.mta.info/capconstr/7ext/documents.htm for more details about the project and www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/hyards/eis.shtml 16/06.A joint venture of Hill International, LiRo Engineers, Lemley International and HDR has received a contract from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to provide construction management services during extension of the subway Line 7 in New York City. The joint venture will be responsible for providing construction management services during all tunnelling work and during construction of all facilities and infrastructure including track, rail systems and stations, as well as project controls services throughout the duration of the project, which is anticipated to be completed by November 2013. Visit www.hillintl.com, www.liro.com, www.lemleyinternational.com and www.hdrinc.comThe project will provide transit access to the West Side of Manhattan by extending the line westward from Times Square under West 41st Street and southward along Eleventh Avenue to the southerly terminus at West 25th Street. The planned extension provides 2.2 km of tunnel to accommodate a two-track railroad with two lay-up tracks for the storage of six trains (three on each side). The extension also provides for two new stations: an intermediate station at West 41st Street and Tenth Avenue (Tenth Avenue station) and a two-track terminal station on Eleventh Avenue at West 34th Street (34th Street station). 22/07.The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has approved a team of Skanska Civil USA, Schiavone Construction Co. and J.F. Shea Construction for a USD1.14 billion contract to build the 2.4 km extension of the subway line 7 to Manhattan's west side. When the contract has been signed, USD400 million will be included in Skanska's order bookings for the fourth quarter. The joint venture is the unique bidder and the job will be awarded in mid-November. Skanska is part of a joint venture named S3 Tunnel Constructors in which Skanska USA Civil and J.F. Shea Construction hold 35% each and the Schiavone Construction Company holds 30%. The team has a 57-month construction schedule to bore a 6.5 m-diameter tunnel through mostly hard rock some 40 metres deep. Visit www.skanska.com, www.schiavoneconstruction.com, www.jfshea.com and www.mta.info/capconstr/7ext/index.htmlThe assignment concerns the extension of the subway line 7 between its current terminus at Times Square and West Side of Manhattan, adding a new station at 11th Avenue-34th Street near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. A second station at 10th Avenue-41st Street dropped from the plans, but could be restored if funding can be found. That second station is not included in the contract award. However, a USD450 million option to build a shell for the station was included as part of the contract by the MTA, and must be acted on by the city within nine months from the start of construction, if the city wants to have a station shell built as part of the initial contract.Earlier this year, Skanska was awarded the project to build the first stage of the 2nd Avenue subway line on the East Side of Manhattan. This project is also being carried out by S3 Tunnel Constructors. Skanska's share of this contract amounts to USD126 million. Click us/73. 46/07.

Obayashi and Atlanta-based minority contractor MassAna Construction is the lowest bidder among the five teams who made an offer to build the Clear Creek and North Avenue tunnels, that will drain areas north of downtown Atlanta, and a pumping station. The JV offered a $210.2 million bid, 22% lower than the two closest competing bids of USD267.9 million and USD270 million. Contract signing planned on 30th March, 2004 with Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management. Two 8.2 m-diameter tunnels, each about 6.4 km in length, will be bored using two hard rock TBMs. Mucking-out with conveyor belts. The North Avenue tunnel would run south to north, beginning west of the college and ending at the R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center in northwest Atlanta. The Clean Creek tunnel will run east to west. The tunnels would intersect near the college and flow north to the R.M. Clayton pumping station. Construction to begin late next year. More details in E-News Weekly 13/2004. Visit www.ci.atlanta.ga.us/government/watershed.aspx and www.obayashi.co.jp/english 13/04.Obayashi and MassAna Construction ordered two Herrenknecht hard rock TBMs to excavate Atlanta's west area CSO storage tunnels. The 800-ton 91 m-long TBMs are open-style main beam machines, equipped with a 8,235 mm-diameter cutting head. The total installed main drive power is 3,200 kW, the thrust force is approximately 18,000 kN and the expected average compressive strength is 175 MPa. Geology made of fine to medium grained gneiss. Continuous conveyor for mucking-out. Cast in situ concrete lining. Machines to arrive in June 2005 for expected tunnelling start in July/August 2005.Contract A includes the 6,405 m 7.32 m finished diameter Clear Creek tunnel excavated by TBM in deep rock, 244 m of drill/blast excavated 3.35 m-diameter tunnel, one 4 m-diameter flow intake shaft structure and two 12.2 m-diameter shafts. Contract B includes the North Avenue tunnel and pumping station, consisting of a 7,140 m 7.32 m finished diameter deep rock tunnel, two 12.2 m-diameter shafts, a submersible type pumping station and one 7.32 m-diameter emergency overflow shaft and channel. Subscribe to E-News Weekly 13/2004. Visit www.herrenknecht.com 30/04.