Construction is set to begin on the Palisades Tunnels, the New Jersey portion of the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project stretching from North Bergen, New Jersey to Manhattan in New York City.
An 8.38 m diameter Robbins Main Beam tunnel boring machine was selected by PTP Constructors to excavate the tunnels. The Robbins machine will make twin 1.6 km long bores in Palisades hard rock to the Hoboken access shaft. Ground will consist primarily of diabase with some sandstone and siltstone at strengths of 125 to 300 MPa.
The high performance tunnel boring machine will be mounted with 19 inch diameter cutters for decreased cutter changes and faster penetration rates in hard rock. Hydraulic side, roof, and cutterhead supports combined with a bolted cutterhead design will enable the tunnel boring machine to be backed through the bored tunnel past temporary ground support.
Manufacturing will take place at the Robbins Solon, Ohio, US facility, and the TBM will be shipped to the jobsite by early July 2011. Machine launch will take place in Autumn 2011 from a 90 m long pit at the North Bergen site.
Image caption:
The design of the Robbins Main Beam TBM for the Palisades Tunnels will allow for easy retraction from bored tunnels, similar to the East Side Access TBM pictured here.
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