Crenshaw/LAX tunnel boring machine begins work

LACMTA

The Crenshaw/LAX Transit Line's tunnel boring machine (TBM), Harriet, began digging the first of two twin-tunnels beneath Crenshaw Boulevard last week.

The machine’s launch marks the first time Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has had an active TBM on a project since the completion of the tunnel under Boyle Heights for the Gold Line Eastside Extension in 2008.

Harriet began tunneling under Crenshaw Blvd. at Exposition Boulevard and will gradually make her way south toward Leimert Park. The TBM is creating the tunnels that will include the Expo/Crenshaw, Martin Luther King Jr. and Leimert Park underground stations. The excavation is expected to take approximately 15 months.

The TBM weighs 950 tons, is 21.5 feet in diameter, 400 feet long and will dig 60 feet per day. When the TBM reaches Leimert Park Station, it will be disassembled and returned to the Expo Yard,where it will be lowered again and launched to excavate the second tunnel.

The 8.5-mile Crenshaw/LAX Line is a $2.058-billion light-rail line that will run between the Green Line and the Expo Line. It will have eight new stations to serve the Crenshaw, Inglewood and LAX communities and is expected to open in 2019