By rosebell
While over than 50% of the Hudson Tunnel Project’s Tonnelle Avenue Bridge and Utility Relocation Project has been completed, the early works component of this project is going to create an access point to start up the TBMs for the underground portion on the New Jersey side of the new tunnel in 2026.
The date of starting excavation by Gateway Development Commission (GDC) on the Tonnelle Avenue Project was late 2023 and the work is due to be completed next year.
Achieving the halfway point in just one year is an indication of the team’s expertise and GDC’s commitment to delivering the US’s most urgent infrastructure project as quickly as possible, as GDC commissioners said.
As a highway in North Bergen, New Jersey, Tonnelle Avenue carries Routes 1 and 9 through Hudson County and it will create access for the TBMs’ launch by building a new road bridge.
In order to providing a traffic flow during construction and clearing the way for trains to pass beneath the highway once the tunnel is in operation, this new bridge is important and it is also slated to link the two portions of the Tonnelle Avenue staging site, which will serve as the primary staging site for future tunnel boring and other construction work.
Providing the stage for tunnel boring to begin next year, the GDC is also advansing on the two other active construction projects of the HTP.
With the aim of connecting the new tunnel to New York Penn Station, the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing – Section 3 (HYCC-3) Project is building a link and also the construction team recently completed jet grouting under the High Line and secant wall boring, and secant pile installation is on track to be finished before the end of the year that will enable digging process to be commenced for installation of the tunnel box.
As the first heavy construction project of the HTP, the Hudson River Ground Stabilisation (HRGS) Project involves injecting grout into the silt on the shallow riverbed on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River, then creating columns of soil mixed with cement and water to form a block of reinforced earth strong enough for tunnel construction to begin without disrupting the river ecosystem. Construction crews recently completed the first of multiple sections of temporary cofferdams that will enclose work areas, enabling soil mixing to begin.
The first tunnel boring contract of the HTP for the Palisades Tunnel Project was concluded by GDC in August and constructing the first mile of the new tunnel on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River will be up to Schiavone Dragados Lane JV. GDC expects to order the TBMs that will dig this portion of the tunnel before the end of the year.
