Construction
The Niagara Tunnel was constructed using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), affectionately named "Big Becky" in honour of Sir Adam Beck. The TBM machine bored a tunnel about 10.2 kilometres (6.3 mi) long and about 12.7 metres (42 ft) in diameter under the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, from the Niagara River to the SAB complex. The massive undertaking created about 1.6 million cubic meters of rock and debris, and was designed for a minimum 90-year life span.
The HP 471-316 TBM was driven by 15 electric motors totaling about 4.7 megawatts of power (6,375 horsepower), built by the Robbins Company of Solon, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), and was the world’s largest hard-rock tunnel boring machine as of 2006. The TBM operated as deep as 140 metres (460 ft) below ground level to avoid the machine's vibrations being felt at surface level. The design-build contractor for the project was the Austrian construction company Strabag AG, a large construction group with extensive experience in large tunnel construction.
Due to slower than projected boring progress caused by constant tunnel roof over-breaks, the project completion date was extended to at least December 2013, with a revised total projected cost of $1.6B.
Read more about this topic: Niagara Tunnel Project
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