FEATURE ARTICLE The future of transit tunneling in Washington, D.C. y the time the latest expansion of the Washington to dewater the soils. However, due to concerns about Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) conditioning clays with earth pressure balance (EPB) Bsystem, known locally as Metro and which opened TBMs, open face machines were still favored by contractors in 1976, is completed in 2020, the system will serve 97 for their better advance rates, lower cost and ability to deal stations and operate on 188 km (117 miles) of track with boulders that were occasionally encountered in the on six interconnecting lines. Metro provides a critical Coastal Plain Terrace Deposits. transportation link to a population of approximately Ground improvement techniques that made tunneling six million people within a 3,900-km2 (1,500-sq-mile) possible in weak or very wet soils at the start of Metro Washington Metropolitan area and has allowed job growth construction were largely limited to cement and chemical to expand to all corners of the region. In the 1950s and grouting and, to a lesser extent, ground freezing. Many 1960s, when the system was first conceived and construction early (pre-1978) WMATA tunneling contractors used began, most jobs were centered in downtown Washington, chemical grout for use in fine-grained soils. This changed and most of the workforce commuted by bus or car. Today, over time as technologies evolved for jet grouting transit-oriented development has increased residential, (replacement of soil by grout), compaction grouting and commercial and government facilities near most of the compensation grouting where grouting is undertaken as existing 91 stations increasing the importance of the Metro tunneling takes place. system as a critical transportation link for the region. For tunnels in rock, the work started when tunneling According to recent American Public Transportation technologies were transitioning from the traditional Association (APTA) data, Metro is the second busiest method of drill-and-blast excavation with rock support transit system in the United States (after New York City’s using structural steel (steel sets) to more modern methods. transit system). The first rock tunnel running north from Dupont Circle During the nearly 50 years of construction on the Station was a single double-track tunnel excavated by drill- Washington Metro system, technology improvements and and-blast methods. Later, tunnel contractors used hard- lessons learned from the global tunneling industry were rock TBMs between and through the stations. WMATA implemented. Portions of this background and history have personnel had concerns about the delays associated with been adapted from other work by the authors Roach et gripper-type TBMs getting stuck for extended periods in al. (2017) and expanded for use herein. For soil tunnels, weak rock formations (there was no reverse gear) and with these improvements included the change from a “two-pass” replacing worn disc cutters. Consequently, they preferred tunnel lining with a typical initial lining of steel ribs with conventional rock excavation techniques. Drill-and-blast wood lagging or segmental precast lining erected within excavation continued out of necessity to excavate station the tunnel shield followed by a final lining of cast-in-place caverns in rock, as well as many smaller-size excavations concrete to a one-pass lining system of pre-cast concrete such as for cross-passages between tunnels. gasketed segmental lining. Soil tunnels were originally Design and construction of rock tunnel linings evolved excavated using open-face tunnel shields, but changed over to follow principles of rock reinforcement by using rock time. By the late 1980s, tunneling using closed, pressurized- bolts and shotcrete, eliminating the use of steel sets. These face tunnel boring machines (TBMs) using a one-pass practices progressed further where rock bolts were replaced tunnel lining consisting of segmental precast concrete by untensioned rock dowels fully encapsulated with cement permitted or resin and shotcrete for initial support and, in some cases, tunneling in a shotcrete as the permanent lining. Ground water leaks were Brian Zelenko, Harald Cordes and wider range of a major problem during early construction. Dry tunnels soil conditions without leaks became possible when PVC membranes were William H. Hansmire with much less placed between the initial and final linings of rock tunnels risk of damaging (Sauer et al., 1987). It was part of the early introduction Brian Zelenko, Harald Cordes and overlying utilities and adaptation of European tunneling methods and initial William H. Hansmire, members UCA or structures, use in the United States (Heflin 1985) of the New Austrian of SME, are vice president, engineering manager greater safety Tunneling Method (NATM), also known as the sequential for tunnel excavation method (SEM). This was the first time in the and senior vice president with WSP USA, email construction United States where the owner fully accepted the method [email protected]. personnel and and used it for later projects. This approach to tunneling without the need integrated the several techniques that had evolved globally 12 JUNE 2018 T&UC® over the years and was used to successfully FIG.1 excavate tunnels in rock and, for the first time in Steel pipe arch canopy support for WMATA Silver Line extension in the United States soil (Heflin et al., 1991). Tyson’s Corner. Source: Vojtech Gall/GZ Consultants. The contract for the Fort Totten Station and tunnels in 1988 was the only contract out of three offered by WMATA in which the contractor chose to utilize NATM. It was the first use of NATM in soft ground (sands and clays) for a transit tunnel in the United States. The project included 292 m (958 linear ft) of twin tunnels, in addition to a portion of the station excavation located west of the Fort Totten Station. Excavation and ground behavior were monitored during construction by an extensive geotechnical instrumentation program. Specified initial support included shotcrete applied in three stages, with welded wire fabric and lattice girders. Soil anchors were also required for initial support. Additional support was provided by forepoling bars, forepoling sheets and face shotcreting. The tunnel research work that began on the first projects of the Washington Metro set the stage for rocks. Coastal Plain soils include interbedded alluvial soils, geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring for tunneling ranging from clays, silts and sands to cobbles and boulders, that is undertaken throughout the world today. Metro deposited by rivers and tributary systems within channels, engaged the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign bars, floodplains, terraces and alluvial fans. The alluvial Department of Civil Engineering to conduct field research deposits are underlain by older Potomac Group soils, which on soil tunneling, rock tunneling and cut-and-cover were deposited in a marine environment and are generally excavations. The lessons learned for instrumentation and denser and stiffer than the alluvial deposits. Northwest of procedures for tunneling were published as Methods the Fall Line, Piedmont residual soils, weathered and hard for Geotechnical Observations and Instrumentation in intact bedrock are evident near the ground surface. These Tunneling (Cording et al., 1975). geologic conditions had a significant influence on tunneling Washington Metro engaged a board of experts to and underground construction methods. Also influencing peer review and advise on all aspects of design and construction were the presence of the Potomac and construction. The Washington Metro Tunnel Board of Anacostia Rivers, Rock Creek and other tributary streams Consultants (including Ralph B. Peck, Don U. Deere and and creeks. A. A. Mathews) became the forerunner for what is today a common practice within the underground industry (Roach Expansion of the system et al., 2017). In recent years, there have been several expansions of Approximately half of the original 165-km (103- the original Metro system that have included tunneling mile) system was constructed underground, including and underground construction. These projects include approximately 30 km (19 miles) of rock tunnels, 19 km (12 the Dulles Corridor Metrorail, also known as the Silver miles) of mined soft-ground tunnels and cut-and-cover Line, the Rosslyn Station Expansion and Access project, construction. A total of 48 stations are underground, 11 of the Medical Center Station Metro Crossing project, and which were mined in rock, one was mined in soil, and the the Purple Line, a new light rail transit system overseen rest were constructed by cut-and-cover methods. The 30 by the Maryland Transit Administration that will provide km (19 miles) of rock tunnels were constructed for the Red a circumferential connection between three suburban Line extending from Dupont Circle Station north to the Metro Stations (Bethesda, Silver Spring and Greenbelt) in Rockville Station, approaches to and under the Potomac Maryland. River between Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn Stations, and The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, estimated at the north end of the Red Line between Wheaton and more than $5 billion, extends Metro service from West Falls Glenmont Stations. Church Station through Tysons Corner to Wiehle Avenue The local geology straddles the boundary between the Station (Phase I) and to Dulles International Airport, Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Physiographic Provinces. terminating at a station beyond the airport in Loudoun From the boundary, also known as the Fall Line, which County, VA (Phase II). SEM tunneling was employed for extends through the metropolitan area from SW to NE, a 520 m (1,700 ft) section through Tysons Corner in Phase there is an increasingly thickening wedge of Coastal Plain I of the project. SEM was used, including a single- and deposits to the southeast underlain by older Piedmont double-grouted steel pipe arch canopy pre-support due T&UC® JUNE 2018 13 FIG.2 Other recent and future tunneling DC Water’s First Street Tunnel EPB TBM “Lucy” as introduced by Mayor in Washington, D.C.