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Tunnel Boring Machine Completes Hole Under Niagara Falls

Posted by Soulskill on from the also-known-as-geohacking dept.

abhatt writes with news that "Big Becky," a 4,000-ton tunnel boring machine, has finished chewing through over 10 kilometers of rock underneath Niagara Falls, Ontario, a project that's been underway since 2006. "The 10.2 kilometer tunnel is 14.4 meters in diameter. Big Becky ate through 1.6 million cubic meters of rock to reach her goal. That’s enough rock, officials said, to fill the Rogers Centre in Toronto. And the cement used to line the tunnel would build a sidewalk stretching from Windsor to Quebec City. ... The project took longer and cost more because Becky ran into unexpected conditions. She’s designed to go through solid rock, but encountered a stretch of loose, crumbling material that was unsuitable for tunneling. That forced a long and expensive detour."

8 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. No, I'm not going to RTFA just to find out by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why they drilled that tunnel.

    --
    Fandroids hate facts.
    1. Re:No, I'm not going to RTFA just to find out by haruchai · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess you believe you have concrete reasons to be annoyed but your rant has likely cemented opinions that you're over-sensitive.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  2. "Rogers Center"s? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot is an American site, we don't need any Metric measurements like "Rogers Center"s. How many Libraries of Congresses can it fill?

  3. Booooring. by goodmanj · · Score: 1, Funny

    I always said Canadians were boring.

  4. I'd tell you, but... by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it's boring.

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    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  5. Re:worst article ever by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

    What do you mean, why they built the tunnel. It's a tunnel. You've got to build tunnels.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  6. Re:worst article ever by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own problem.

  7. Re:The reason by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks like it's time to build a wall. Anyone know where I can get some cheap labor?

    Detroit.

    What, too soon?