Dive Brief:
- A tunnel-boring machine nicknamed Joyce set a tunneling record when it cut through 163 feet of soil in one day while burrowing one of two tubes for a connector highway in Brisbane, Australia.
- Joyce and its twin Herrenknech machine, Annabell, are each 41 feet across and 365 feet long, are constructing side-by-side 2.9-mile tunnels for a road that will be known as Legacy Way and will route commuters off surface roads.
- The toll road takes it name from the Legacy for Australia Defence, which is a group that supports families of war veterans and that will benefit from the tunnel tolls.
Dive Insight:
The machines were built partly by recycling parts from machines that cut a tunnel under the Brisbane River a few years ago. The Legacy tunnel itself will comprise 38,700 concrete rings.
