15 km-long, 3.5 m-diameter Saavedra-Moron tunnel reaching completion by Wayss & Freytag/Sollazo Hnos for Aguas Argentinas using Herrenknecht EPB. Safege Montgomery Watson are client's engineer. Tunnelling conditions post-evaluation study carried out by team chaired by Mike Kobler of Underground Construction Managers and including Alastair Biggart of Hatch Mott MacDonald and Gary Brierley of Brierley Associates. Visit www.brierleyassociates.com January 2000.
Completion of $65 million Saavedra-Moron reported. The tunnel comprises four drives of 3.56 km, 4.2 km, 3.7 km, and 3.8 km at depth 35 m from five shafts. Ground conditions were variable, ranging from quicksands under 2.5 bar pressure, through green sandy clays to hard consolidated silts with calcareous nodules. Soil conditioning using bentonite or foam, or both. The two Herrenknecht 4.3 m-diameter EPBs averaged 20 x 1.2 m-wide gasketed rings/day with a best performance of 35 rings. Visit www.herrenknecht.com March 2000.