Major Challenges of Tunneling in Urban Areas

Tunneling has proved effective in challenging urban contexts, thanks to a risk-averse strategy throughout the planning phase and the utilization of cutting-edge TBM technology.

Fremont, CA: For various causes, tunneling and underground building in metropolitan areas are on the rise worldwide. It necessitates dealing with complicated issues to ensure safe construction while minimizing the impact on existing structures, infrastructure, utilities, and the general public.

Tunneling in metropolitan locations typically necessitates shallow cover construction under challenging ground conditions of soft soils and mixed ground, with considerable groundwater infiltration, and often close to large sensitive structures and historic buildings. The impact of tunneling on structures, surface traffic, adjacent businesses, and people's daily lives is significant.

Tunneling in a city poses a variety of distinct difficulties. Major motorways, probable shallow ground cover, soft ground conditions, potentially mixed ground, existing or abandoned foundations, subterranean structures, and enormous, complicated networks of wet and dry utilities are all features of a typical metropolitan landscape. Furthermore, the difficulty of conducting tunneling in an urban area without causing damage to nearby facilities, structures, and utilities gets exacerbated by space limits.