June 23, 2021

Book details Seattle tunnel project

Photos by Catherine Bassetti [enlarge]

Crew members and managers raise their hats after the successful arrival and exit of ‘Bertha’ at the North Portal shaft site on April 14, 2017. Bertha, the tunnel boring machine named after Seattle’s first female mayor, Bertha Landes, was not salvageable and was dismantled over the following four months.

[enlarge]

A worker emerges from the mouth of the tunnel in the launch zone at the south end of the tunnel project, where the boring machine began her route under Seattle in 2013. Before the interior roadways were built, the tunnel was visible in its full diameter, at 57.5 feet, the largest tunnel in the world at the time.

Photographer Catherine Bassetti has produced a new book on the making of the Highway 99 tunnel that runs beneath downtown Seattle.

Bassetti was the official on-site photographer/videographer for Seattle Tunnel Partners, the design-build contractor for the tunnel, which opened Feb. 4, 2019. It replaced the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct, a double-decker section of state Route 99 that had run along Seattle's waterfront.

In press materials, Bassetti said she dedicated the past two years to producing the book, titled Building Seattle's State Route 99 Supertunnel - Journey from Light to Light.

She said the 190-page large hardcover publication covers a five-year period (2014-2019) of this engineering megaproject that broke records and defied odds in the underground tunneling industry. She said the book illustrates six work zones, events and milestones, and is accompanied by commentary from key contributors, civic leaders and crew members.

It celebrates ‘Bertha,' the largest tunnel boring machine in the world at the time, and the viaduct.

The nearly two-mile tunnel follows a winding path along Seattle's waterfront, Elliott Bay, and part of the city's downtown business district, exiting at the North Portal, located at Sixth Avenue North and Thomas Street, adjacent to the Seattle Center and Space Needle.

From 100 feet in the air to 100 feet below ground, the book gives readers an overview of all facets involved in building the double deck, two-lane highway beneath the city, Bassetti said.

It is available at https://www.thesupertunnel.com/ for $68 or on Amazon.com for $68.95.

Bassetti's career spans 30 years as a photographer for corporate, public and private clientele in the U.S. and abroad.