SEATTLE — Bertha is taking a break over the holidays.
KING-TV reports that Seattle’s tunnel-boring machine will be idle over Christmas so workers can spend time with their families and maintenance can be performed.
The machine is sitting about 160 feet below Third Avenue. It’s now 2,500 feet from the pit near Seattle Center where the tunnel will end.
The tunnel will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was damaged in an earthquake.
After being shut down for more than two years for repairs, Bertha has been digging consistently for the past 12 months. It moved more than a mile during that time.
The Washington state Department of Transportation’s latest estimate is the tunnel will open to traffic in early 2019.
