Blogs Archive
Archive of blogs from the global tunnels industryBlogs By Date
January 2023
Top
What may come
In the infrastructure and energy sectors, and the financing and fulfilment of the same, that takes a mighty amount of planning. Consideration. Studies. In depth. Based on experience.
Paths from the present
Tunnel projects are everywhere in the Americas and internationally, and the need for infrastructure investment in building new and upgrading existing underground space assets is even more pronounced.
December 2022
Top
Everything between
The early days of December see attention turn more to the tunnellers’ patron, St Barbara. This annual day of celebration brings further focus to the eternal desire that projects, whether new or underway, will go well. Success and safety are wished by all.
November 2022
Top
Equipping for the future
A fresh array of tools for designers and constructors is coming into play with the rising wave of digitalization. Tools are adding to the potential ways of developing and operating all types of infrastructure and energy assets, including those with tunnels.
Long sight, deep dive
With so much up the air, it seems, as costs and economics bust out of their cages and politicians take to deciding what to do, for the best, recently some noises came to be made about cutting construction projects.
Exchanges and views
Come autumn, come the season of meetings and gatherings and intimate conversations, in huddles as days shorten and darker evenings return, and openly at large events that draw interest from across the industry.
September 2022
Top
Space below, time above
Most often, the focus of discussion surrounding projects can be about how tunnelling is being done or could have been executed. Attention is paid to process details, to design but most of all to the many choices for construction, and then the details of equipment and materials, and logistics and cost, and minimising risk while overcoming what surprises the ground may reveal as tunnels advance.
August 2022
Top
Seeking sustainability
With the global industry gathering in Copenhagen for the first in-person World Tunnel Congress for a few years, much more focus is on sustainability in the creation and long-term use of underground space.
Taking a grip
We are always looking to the future while trying to learn useful tips from the past, whether from our own history or the experiences of those kind enough to share lessons.
June 2022
Top
Being realistic
Using London’s newly-opened Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) is a wonderful experience. How marvellous when everything is fresh and operates seamlessly. Congratulations to all teams and crews involved.
See you in Philly
This issue of Tunnels & Tunneling North America (TTNA) will be circulated at the North American Tunneling show (NAT) and it’s gratifying to see that after a Covid-enforced break, NAT is back with us once more. It’s going to be a great show and we look forward to seeing you there.
May 2022
Top
A couple of milestones
We mark two completions this month, one momentous, the other – well, perhaps not so.
April 2022
Top
A Perfect Storm
Challenges come thick and fast. Energy price volatility, the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, a global shipping crisis, the talent shortage, 30-year-high inflation, ‘great resignations’, and lingering Covid-19 (with new lockdowns in China) are combining to further impact our lives. To have so much disruption on so many fronts, simultaneously, is highly unusual and does not bode well. It could all be leading to a massive crisis.
Saving the land of milk and honey
Melons, peaches, almonds, pistachios, garlic and wine are just part of California’s bounteous agriculture that amounts to a US$50bn/year industry. If you include dairy, the Golden State supplies around one quarter of the food consumed in the US. But it will not for much longer if the drought continues.
March 2022
Top
Vitruvian man
This month, we feature the obituary of John Bartlett, inventor of the slurry tunnelling machine who died last year at the age of 94.
February 2022
Top
Time to get snapping
Over the past 50-odd years, technology has advanced at an astonishing rate. American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku’s famous assertion that today’s smart phone has more computing power than NASA had at the time of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon shot shows just how far we have come.
January 2022
Top
Taking the softer approach
As a non-engineer, my knowledge of tunnelling would have been undeniably poorer without my well-thumbed copy of ‘Introduction to Tunnel Construction’ by Chapman, Metje and Stärk. Thus invaluable ‘bible’ of a book, with its hugely ambitious scope, has been my trusted reference over the years, guiding me ever so gently through the difficult ground of tunnelling.
December 2021
Top
Bla Bla... And a brighter future
So, here we are at the end of another year. I guess I could drone on, Greta Thunberg style, about how difficult these 12 months have been for us all bla bla bla; the pandemic bla bla bla; the amazing T&T redesign bla bla bla. But I won’t.
Old not obsolete
An interesting news story caught my attention this month concerning the fate of a 126-year-old freight tunnel in the US. Far from abandonment, disrepair or demolition, the Howard Street Tunnel (HST) in Baltimore is to get a new lease of life. And it’s a wonderful story.
November 2021
Top
Ladies in waiting
Women make up around half of the world’s population but are underrepresented in nearly every walk of life. Especially construction. In the UK, women make up roughly 13% of the construction industry; in the US it is about the same. But the majority of these will be working in office and admin roles. Go to site and it’s a different story.
