Miami prepares for TBM arrival
Jun 2011
TunnelTalk reporting
- All was ready dockside for approach of the ship carrying the components of the Herrenknecht EPBM that will excavate the subsea drives of Miami's newport link highway. Hundreds of crates together with the main components of the 42ft (12.8m) diameter, $45 million machine will be off-loaded transfer to the job site and reassembly in the work-site launch bay during June/July.
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42ft (12.8m) Herrenknecht EPBM shipped from Schwanau
- Following a champagne dedication in September, the machine will set off on its first mile long drive under the Government Cut shipping channel, from Watson Island to Dodge Island, before taking a turn and driving the parallel twin tube back again.
- The machine is procured by the Miami Access Tunnel (MAT), the 35-year PPP concessionaire engaged by the Florida Department of Transportation to design-build-finance-operate-and-maintain the new $1.3 billion highway. MAT is led by Bouygues of France, which has signed a $607 million design-build contract with Bouygues Publics Trauvaux, the heavy civil construction division of the group, to build the project that centers on excavation by the two 3,900ft (1.1km) long tunnels. The new route will divert heavy port traffic away from the city streets of Miami and direct it instead through the tunnel and via a widening of the MacArthur Causeway and bridge from Watson Island to interstate highway I-395.
- Excavation of the tunnel by the 12.8m diameter EPBM will take about one year, six months for each tube. The completed project is due to open in 2014. Once opened the toll highway will be operated and maintained by MAT group partner Transfield Services.
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The undersea port link highway is due to open in 2014
- The project is funded 50% by Florida's State Government and 50% by the local County and City Governments. MAT will combine partner equity with private bank and Government loans to fund construction. Government funding will be paid as milestone payments during the project's development. As part of the agreement the State Government will make annually operating and maintenance payments to MAT according to the availability of the infrastructure through the concession.
- Boring beneath the Government Cut in Biscayne Bay is expected to begin in October 2011 after the assembly of the machine is completed inside a pit in the median of the MacArthur Causeway in front of Jungle Island. The work will begin there because that is where trucks will enter and exit the tunnel. Once assembled, the machine will weigh more than 2,500 tons.
- Port of Miami Tunnel gets underway - TunnelTalk, July 2010
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