Alice the tunnel-boring machine which is being operated by the Well-Connected Alliance is making faster progress than expected on the Waterview Connection project.
From April 3, Alice sped up from making 16m of progress daily to 20m, and more than 600m of tunnel was created by the second week of this month.
Prior to this Alice has created 250m of tunnel by February, as part of the operation to create twin 2.4km long tunnels, 13.1m in diameter, which will connect the Southwestern and Northwestern Motorways to become the city’s western ring route in more than two years time.
Thee construction manager for Well-Connected Alliance member McConnell Dowell, Rory Bishop, says the speed of the tunnel boring machine depends on many different factors, including whether the ground is harder or softer, or if a cable or teeth on the machine need to be changed.
Another McConnell Dowell employee Gwyn Jones says that Alice is faster in comparison to a smaller tunnel boring machine that built a new downtown rail line in Singapore in which he was a project manager.
Progress on that train tunnel project ranged from 140m a month in hard conditions to 250m a month in softer conditions says Jones.
