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| Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project progress update e-mail 11 08 2010 (1001067) | |||
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Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project progress update e-mail 11 08 2010 |
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Posted by Sand Box John on Tue Nov 9 23:00:18 2010 Miners Complete Excavation for Outbound Tunnel'Holing Through' Hailed as Significant Milestone for Rail Project Construction  OUTBOUND SUCCESS: Equipment excavates up to the west portal face at the western edge of the outbound tunnel. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Miners excavating the tunnels that will carry Dulles Corridor Metrorail tracks from the Tysons Central 123 Station under the highest natural point in Fairfax County soon will complete the mining portion of the construction endeavors. In late October, crews 'holed through' the west end of the outbound tunnel near the busy intersection of Routes 7 and 123 just more than a year after beginning excavations. During the past 15 months, miners have worked 12-hour shifts, day and night, to accomplish this feat. Miners worked through last winter's blizzards, only missing times when highways were impassable. Dulles Transit Partners, the design-build contractor for the Rail Project, is mining the tunnels. Mining of the inbound tunnel is scheduled for completion in mid-December. Then crews will remove the temporary road inside the tunnels, rearrange temporary utilities, back fill and install a smoothing layer of special sprayable concrete used to reinforce the tunnel. Then comes waterproofing, more reinforcement and concrete installation, and construction of the safety walkway. Tunnel construction is expected to be finished at the end of 2011.  HOLING THROUGH: A miner's hand breaks through at the invert of the west Cut and Cover tunnel. Photo by Nathan Wageley, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project  MOVING TOWARD THE FINISH LINE: Miners push toward the holing through point on the day before the actual push through. Workers are preparing to construct the reinforced Shotcrete ring beam at the portal entrance. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Connecting Dulles Rail Tracks to Metro's Orange Line  AT THE ORANGE LINE: Work continues where the new extension breaks off of I-66 west before the West Falls Church Station. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Significant progress is evident all along Phase 1 of the 11.5-mile Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project from Falls Church to Reston. With completion of construction now more than 22 percent, crews are working day and night. One of the most complicated areas of construction is where the Dulles Connector Road (Route 267) breaks away from I-66 near West Falls Church. This is where the rail extension will merge with Metro's existing Orange Line. Last Memorial Day weekend, Metro shut down rail service between the East and West Falls Church stations so that pier construction and testing could take place close to existing tracks in this area. Now piers have been completed and bridges to carry the aerial tracks across I-66 are very visible. Drivers using I-66 westbound frequently find that the highway is closed, forcing them to detour to the Dulles Connector Road, to Route 123, to I-495, to I-66 west toward Centreville. Drivers can also exit I-66 before they reach the detour and use local roads to get to the City of Falls Church and other neighborhoods near Route 7 and Idylwood Road. Notices of these and other closings are emailed weekly and whenever necessary to stakeholders. To sign up, please visit the Dulles Metro website. A Third Truss Coming to Cross Beltway A third huge truss that will be used to build more bridges for the rail line in Tysons Corner is being assembled in a cloverleaf of Route 123 and I-495. This truss will function a bit differently from the other two that have been building bridges above the Dulles Connector Road across Route 123 and along Route 123 near Scotts Crossing Road. The latest addition to the big yellow fleet of horizontal cranes will be used to build the bridges that will carry tracks across the Capital Beltway in the coming year. Meanwhile, the skyline at Tysons continues to be filled with these trusses, working day and night to build bridges for rail.  CLOSE TO I-495: Truss moves along Route 123 near I-495. Photo by Chuck Samuelson, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project  BEING DELIVERED: The truss picks up a segment from the truck that delivered it to the Tysons work site (VA-267 VA-123 interchange) from Dulles Airport where it was created. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project  IN THE HEART OF TYSONS: Tysons Central 7 Station construction continues at a fast pace in the median of Route 7 near the Marshalls shopping center. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project ### Link to PDF version is not on the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project web site yet. John in the sand box of Maryland's eastern shore. |
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