Herrenknecht TBM ordered for Miami

The TBM that will dig the 1.2km tunnel to the Port of Miami was ordered last month by Miami Access Tunnel (MAT), the private company awarded the contract to design, build and operate the tunnel.

The USD 45M Herrenknecht TBM will be built over the next year in Germany before being shipped in parts to Miami where it will be reassembled at Watson Island to begin boring possibly in the summer of 2011. The USD 1bn project is scheduled for completion in May 2014.

The details were revealed by MAT executive Christopher Hodgkins during a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The tunnel will link the port for the first time to area motorways in a bid to speed cargo traffic and ease traffic congestion in the centre of Miami.

The tunnel entrance will be at Watson Island on the median of the MacArthur Causeway which connects to Interstate 395.

Hodgkins told the chamber’s chairman at the luncheon, “The project is on schedule.”