en.Wedoany.com Reported - Late last month, a 281-ton tunnel boring machine (TBM) named "Granite Janet" arrived in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, for the $360 million Cemetery Brook Drain Tunnel project, with the team preparing for an August launch.
Jacob Blunden, project manager for contractor Methuen Obayashi, explained that Bay Crane Cos. used a 450-ton crane to lift the disassembled TBM from a 139-foot truck and trailer onto a 65-foot self-propelled modular transporter, then moved it across CSX railroad tracks to the launch pit, where it was lowered by a 700-ton mobile off-road crane. The project started in 2025 and remains on budget and on schedule.
Blunden said the TBM arrived on time from Germany in early June, but delays occurred upon arrival at the Port of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, due to transport permit requirements for oversized loads. The project is about 25% complete overall, with cost completion at 35%, including the expensive TBM.
On the morning of June 18, a shooting in Manchester injured two public workers, triggering a manhunt. Ed Pietrasz, resident engineer for project construction manager Parsons, said the team stationed a sheriff at the entrance and work continued as usual. "I arrived at 5:45, and the cutterhead arrived around 10 a.m."
Assembly of the TBM is ongoing, with testing and commissioning to take place in the weeks leading up to launch. Pietrasz noted that the team will test after system completion. "If a component doesn't work after assembly, we don't want to find out 100 yards into the tunnel. We will test every component before advancing the tunnel." The team is testing items one by one, including testing water to ensure the TBM can retain bentonite slurry for operation, testing the slurry centrifuge, as well as pumps and vibrating screens for separating rock and debris, and conducting electrical tests. Pietrasz emphasized, "Everything must work properly before excavation."
Coordination with CSX is a key part of site work, with 80 workers reporting daily. Pietrasz said the team is excavating beneath CSX property, and due to the different materials encountered, CSX has separate testing parameters to ensure excavated materials are not contaminated. "That's why we have to separate their spoil and test its parameters."
