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Houston's Hidden Tunnels: Trials and Tribulations of Large Diameter Tunnels
In 1984 the City of Houston embarked on a multi-year and multi-million dollar effort known as the Surface Water Transmission Program (SWTP) to assist the City in converting from primarily groundwater to surface water. The SWTP was the City's response to a mandate issued by the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District (HGCSD) to increase surface water use and decrease groundwater use. The HGCSD established conversion goals and target dates to reduce subsidence caused by the withdrawal of the groundwater. Continued localized flooding of neighborhoods within the Houston area has recently added more emphasis to converting to primarily surface water. As part of the City's SWTP, two separate construction contracts (a 54-inch (1,370-mm) and 72-inch (1,830-mm) water transmission main) were specified to be constructed using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) for various design considerations. For a number of reasons these two recent tunneling experiences proved to be very difficult to construct and resulted in major cost overruns. This paper discusses the challenges faced during design, the problems encountered while attempting to complete the tunnel excavation and the lessons learned during construction of these critical tunnel sections.
Houston's Hidden Tunnels: Trials and Tribulations of Large Diameter Tunnels
In 1984 the City of Houston embarked on a multi-year and multi-million dollar effort known as the Surface Water Transmission Program (SWTP) to assist the City in converting from primarily groundwater to surface water. The SWTP was the City's response to a mandate issued by the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District (HGCSD) to increase surface water use and decrease groundwater use. The HGCSD established conversion goals and target dates to reduce subsidence caused by the withdrawal of the groundwater. Continued localized flooding of neighborhoods within the Houston area has recently added more emphasis to converting to primarily surface water. As part of the City's SWTP, two separate construction contracts (a 54-inch (1,370-mm) and 72-inch (1,830-mm) water transmission main) were specified to be constructed using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) for various design considerations. For a number of reasons these two recent tunneling experiences proved to be very difficult to construct and resulted in major cost overruns. This paper discusses the challenges faced during design, the problems encountered while attempting to complete the tunnel excavation and the lessons learned during construction of these critical tunnel sections.
Houston's Hidden Tunnels: Trials and Tribulations of Large Diameter Tunnels
Ortega, Rafael (author) / Henry, Gregory J. (author) / Hovsepain, Hamlet (author)
Pipeline Engineering and Construction International Conference 2003 ; 2003 ; Baltimore, Maryland, United States
New Pipeline Technologies, Security, and Safety ; 1788-1797
2003-07-08
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Houston's Hidden Tunnels: Trials and Tribulations of Large Diameter Tunnels
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