
Digging the deep shaft that will give workers access to our tunneling machine's damaged drill head may be making things worse. At best, the complex task figures to delay the tunnel's opening by nine months, pushing it back to August 2107.
So how close is this monster tunneling project to the land of boondoggle? Can Bertha be reached (safely) and repaired?
Crosscut contributors — and Bertha afficionadoes — Matt Fikse-Verkerk and Knute Berger joined Steve Scher at Zeitgeist Coffee in Pioneer Square, just blocks from the troubled project, to ask: Is Bertha toast?
(A transcript of this Elephant in the Room podcast will be available soon.)
Bertha photo courtesy of WSDOT. To listen to other Elephant in the Room podcasts go here. For all Crosscut's coverage of Bertha, go here.