Friday, October 23, 2009

Niagara Tunnel News Blackout

I was going to wait until Nov. 14, which would be the 2 month anniversary of the news blackout, but I'm not.

In Canada, we are used to letting super-secret agencies spend billions of dollars without a shred of transparency. Has this led to good things? No News is Good News? We think not.

Our bankrupt news media can't do anything. They live on the droppings of official news, since it is only given to tame agencies. But we can imagine! Here is my phony report:

The TBM has encountered more 'bad rock'. Nobody told them that conditions were this bad, and they are saving all this for a monster lawsuit. That is why they have clammed up on the news, since the lawyers are now in charge. All the intelligent engineers (designers) have run for the hills, since who wants to get sucked into a trial? The toadies are now in charge, since they never have anything to lose.

This rock has a history of serious rock squeeze problems. The TBM is advancing at 3 m a day, with 3 m overbreak. Some overbreak may be stopped temporarily by thin limestone layers, enough to get in some quick flimsy steel sets and shotcrete. Looks good for while!

Meanwhile, along the rest of the tunnel, there are worrisome cracks, which don't cause any worry, because there are no worriers left. There may have been some more rockbursts, but they haven't killed anybody yet, so there is no need to let it out. They just sweep up and paste over.

Yeah, I love making up news stories! :)

The preceeding has been a work of fiction. No inference of any kind is meant to cast aspersions on anybody living, dead, or disappeared.

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