Tunnelling Ends on the M-30 South Bypass in Madrid'Tizona', the world's biggest TBM with its twin 'Dulcinea', finished its job on 30th October, 2006 in the eastbound, south tunnel on the south bypass of the M-30, which will connect the A-3 to Valencia in Legazpi. The end of tunnelling is five months ahead of schedule. The achievement marks the end of all tunnelling at the south bypass. The remaining works to be performed are the equipment of the tunnels. Although both tunnels are now fully excavated, they are not completely finished. The roadway slab and surfacing must be completed, both in the tunnel and underneath in the emergency tunnel, and the E&M aquipment, ventilation and all signs must be installed.The Mitsubishi-Duro Felguera TBM bored 3,664 metres of the south tunnel on the south bypass, reaching a record advance of 46 metres a day. In the seven months of work, a team of 600 people working in three shifts have operated the machine for 24 hours, seven days a week, boring the tunnel and placing the segmental lining simultaneously. Click here, here and here. Visit www.gdfsa.com The dismantling of the steel monster machine is now half completed more or less. The most complicated task is to pull apart the shield, which will be completed at the end of December. The 15.2-m diameter TBM weighs 3,200 tonnes, is 148 m long and has a 14,000 kW installed power. Then, the same thing will have to be done with the seven enormous back-up elements that shape the body of the machine. All of them will be dismantled, and the shaft emptied, at the end of January. A hundred workers are busy on the job, working in shifts of 30 people, to cut into pieces with blowlamps the steel giant and then pull it apart before loading the pieces on trucks, by means of four 45 m-high gigantic cranes. To remove the TBM from the shaft, three months and 250 truck trips will be necessary. The workers have already cut several parts of the shield and are about to dismantle the main bearing, the heart of 'Tizona', which weighs 250 tonnes. This task will be followed further on by the dismantling of the seven 20 m-long 3 storey-high back-up elements. Lastly, the TBM will clear the space to four-wheel and two-wheel vehicles. Every day since a month ago, two trucks leave a gigantic shaft at Fernández Shaw street, near Plaza del Conde de Casal, to go to a workshop in Barajas del Melo, in Cuenca province. The twin tunnel of the M-30 south bypass is the most complex and costly project (EUR742 million) of all the upgrading works of the M-30, and the only one excavated with TBMs. It is a 4.2 km link, whereof 3.6 km bored by TBM, that carries three lanes in each direction. Each tunnel has two levels, the lower level being earmarked for emergency vehicles. Both tunnels should be opened before May next year. The south bypass consists of two twin bored tunnels, north and south, that carry each three 3.5 m-wide lanes and span an approximate total length of 4,200 metres. They connect the A-3 and the M-30 at Conde de Casal with the tunnels built along the Manzanares, scheduled to open for Christmas. The tunnels will make the distance 1.5 km shorter than the surface routes. The M-30 south bypass will remove a total of 80,000 daily cars from the surface, save 120,000 daily kilometres to drivers and reduce the accident rate by 53%. Serious gridlock in this section of the M-30 will also be avoided, which will benefit to 650,000 residents in the districts of Arganzuela, Retiro, Puente de Vallecas and Usera. Click here and here.The tunnels of the south bypass will be one of the safest in the world since they comprise a tunnel for service and rescue vehicles under the carriageway along the full length in each direction, 13 pedestrian cross passages between the two bores each 200 metres, and five cross passages for the evacuation of vehicles every 600 metres.In addition, there are seven emergency escapes directly connected to the open air, 464 cameras, 18 kilometres of fire detection cables, 472 fire hydrants, 15,710 lights and 112 variable message signs. Click here and es/104. 50/06.