Russia Wharf Tunnel nearing completion

The excavation of the second tube of the binocular tunnel under the historic Russia Wharf Building was finished in February 2004.

With the completion of the waterproofing and the shotcrete final lining, the tunnels are essentially complete!

In the Outbound Tunnel, Curbs and Ductbanks have already been installed and the roadway and is finished; the catenary system is to follow soon. In the Inbound Tunnel the final 2" of shotcrete none structural-smoothing layer in the Inbound Tunnel has been started and will be finished in the next weeks.

The freeze plant that had been operating since April 2002 was shut down on March 12, 2004 allowing the soil to thaw at an average rate of 1º Celsius/week. Force thawing (circulating hot water in the freeze pipes) may be implemented to speed up the thawing process by facilitating the existing pipe system.

The Dr. Sauer Corporation was the designer of record for the Russia Wharf Tunnels and provided field inspection services during construction. The contractors Modern Continental and Beton und Monierbau delivered outstanding work on project.

We congratulate the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for realizing this oustanding and unique project!

For more information about this exciting project please visit our Featured Projects Section!

For more detailed technical information, please refer to the paper "Frozen Ground for Building Support".