  MudHoney tracker showing it has passed the Ballard Bridge
MudHoney passes under the Ballard Bridge
After getting through the boulder that we fondly named “Megaboulder,” MudHoney, our 18-ft diameter tunnel boring machine, is charging forward toward Wallingford like nothing ever phased it. This week, we passed another important milestone: we tunneled under the Ballard Bridge! Like the Ballard Siphon, the Ballard Bridge is what we consider a critical route milestone.
Critical route milestones fall within enhanced mining zones. An enhanced mining zone is a span along the tunneling route with an important structure in the middle of it. In this case, our enhanced mining zone was 300 feet long, with the center of the important structure (the Ballard Bridge) located at around the 150-foot mark. Since we were tunneling through an enhanced mining zone, we asked the engineers driving MudHoney to keep tunneling through this area 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so MudHoney didn’t have to pause under the bridge. Now that we have passed the enhanced mining zone and the Ballard Bridge this week, we move onward to East Ballard!
As always, be sure to check out our Flickr albums for images from recent construction.
Ballard & MudHoney
MudHoney has tunneled 3,790 feet!
During regular tunneling activities, you should anticipate:
- Truck deliveries of concrete segments and MudHoney equipment
- Nighttime segment deliveries and tunnel spoils being hauled off
- Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site
Crews are working 24 hours a day, six days a week and will continue until MudHoney reaches Wallingford in early 2023. Sunday work may also occur.
Ground monitoring is ongoing along the tunnel alignment and is done from both inside MudHoney and on the surface.
East Ballard
Crews have started building the diversion structure on 11th Ave NW that will eventually connect to the storage tunnel. Construction of this vault will take up most of 11th Ave NW just south of NW 45th St requiring the road to be reduced to a single, narrow lane.
You should anticipate:
- One-lane closure on 11th Ave NW through November 2022. This allows for work to occur in the eastern area of 11th Ave NW near NW 45th St. Flaggers will direct northbound and southbound traffic during daytime working hours, and traffic signals will direct traffic during non-working hours. Directional signage will be in place as well. NW 45th St remains closed to traffic between 11th Ave NW and 9th Ave NW; vehicles must detour onto NW 46th St.
- Heavy equipment in the area
- NW 45th St remains closed to traffic between 11th Ave NW and 9th Ave NW; vehicles must detour onto NW 46th St
- Burke-Gilman Trail users remain detoured to the north side of NW 45th St
- Flaggers will help direct traffic during daytime working hours. Please follow all detour guidance on site. For safety, bicyclists should either dismount or cross train tracks at a 90-degree angle. Please use extra caution in wet weather as ramps may be slippery.
- Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site
Regular work hours will be Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm. Night and weekend work may occur.
Fremont
Utility work, including building a sewer bypass, continues within the site’s east end on 2nd Ave NW. For more information about what’s to come at this site, check out our last update.
During this time, you should anticipate:
- Generators running during work hours to power pumps and equipment
- Dust and grinding noise, and occasional use of vactor trucks
- Excavators working on-site for utility installation work
- Truck traffic on Leary Way NW as trucks bring materials and equipment to and from the site
- NW 36th St between Leary Way NW and 3rd Ave NW closed (through the remainder of the project)
- Pedestrian detours on Leary Way NW; please follow all detour guidance on site
- 2nd Ave NW, between Leary Way NW and NW Canal St, closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic for sewer and diversion structure work at least through the end of 2022
- NW Canal St open to two-way traffic to allow access during this closure. Please do not park at the west end of NW Canal St so two-way traffic may turn around at the closure.
- Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site
Regular work hours will be Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm. Crews also continue to work on large eight-foot conveyance tunnel pipes underneath white tents within the site from 7 am to 10 pm on weekdays, and possibly 9 am to 10 pm on weekends, over the next few months.
Wallingford
Crews continue working on the Wallingford shaft walls. We’ve ramped up concrete work in the area and we’ll continue to schedule pours over the coming weeks for the upper portion of the shaft wall.
During this time, you should anticipate:
- Concrete trucks coming in and out of the site
- Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site
Regular work hours will be Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm.
Queen Anne
Construction of underground vaults is ongoing through the summer. Also, one more reminder that this work required a slight adjustment to the Ship Canal Trail detour, which has been moved back near its original location for the summer of 2022. Our contractor will be working on both sides of the trail so please continue to remain alert when moving through this area.
During this time, you should anticipate:
- Trucks coming in and out of the site
- Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site
- The West Ewing Mini Park parking lot to remain closed through mid-2023
- A localized Ship Canal Trail detour at least through summer 2023 (see map). The trail has temporarily been adjusted for construction of the third below-grade vault through summer 2022 and will revert back to the detour shown in the linked map this fall.
Regular work hours will be Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm. Night and weekend work may occur.
Contact us
Please email SPU_ShipCanalProject@seattle.gov with questions or comments or call our hotline at (206) 701-0233. You can also find information online at spushipcanal.participate.online. To support the community during active tunneling, we have changed our hotline hours to 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Construction Safety is Everyone’s Job
Check out some top safety tips at www.seattle.gov/utilities/constructionsafety.
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