Fort Point Channel: Concrete Immersed-Tube and Ventilation Building Design

The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest highway projects over undertaken in the country. It requires the replacement of the existing elevated artery, I-93, with an underground tunnel extending through downtown Boston and an extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) I-90 from its existing termination at the I-93 interchange to Boston's Logan International Airport. The I-90 extension tunnels east under the existing South Station intercity and commuter railroad tracks, under historic Fort Point Channel while crossing above the 1915 twin subway tunnels, and continues through industrial South Boston with ramps surfacing in a new South Boston interchange, the heart of tremendous growth in Boston. From there the tunnel connects to the recently completed Ted Williams Tunnel harbor crossing to East Boston and Logan International Airport. The unique design challenges and solutions relating to the Fort Point Channel crossing, particularly the use of in-the-wet construction with concrete immersed-tube tunnels and the design interface to the ventilation structures, are presented. Structures required for the I-90 extension are concrete immersed tubes and jacked tunnels, as well as more conventional cut-and-cover tunnels, bridges, surface roads, and ancillary buildings. The geometric and physical restraints of the alignment initially required the placement of the ventilation building, which serves the tunnels, on a cut-and-cover tunnel transition section between the jacked tunnels and the concrete immersed tubes. Ultimately, placement of the ventilation building on the immersed tubes created a substantial cost and schedule benefit.