Construction of a highway tunnel using pneumatic caissons

The Kosoku-Ohmiya Route of the Metropolitan Expressway passes under the Shinkansen and Saikyo Lines of East Japan Railway Company through a tunnel near the entrance to the Saitama New Urban Center. The tunnel had to be constructed while minimizing the effect of tunneling on nearby facilities, including a regional air-conditioning center, abutments, piers, and other railway facilities. Also, any drop in groundwater level within the alternating beds of silt and sand had to be prevented. After identifying construction conditions, various countermeasures were discussed and planned, and six large pneumatic caissons were used for the construction, in which the P1 pier of the Saikyo Line above the tunnel was underpinned. The Kosoku-Ohmiya Route of the Metropolitan Expressway connects the Saitama New Urban Center, performing some capital functions, direct to the city center of Tokyo. Near the entrance to the Center, the Kosoku-Ohmiya Route was designed to pass as a tunnel under the elevated tracks of the East Japan Railway Company's Tohoku, Yamagata, Akita, Nagano, and Joetsu Shinkansen Lines, which are major arteries in eastern Japan, and the Saikyo Line, which carries commuters to the Tokyo metropolitan area. The pneumatic caisson method was selected after comparison with the cut-and-cover method because of ensured safety of facilities and railway lines in the vicinity (smaller possibilities of displacement), superiority in controlling impacts on groundwater level, lower cost, and shorter construction period. The following measures were planned and carried out for the construction using pneumatic caissons. Planning drawings of the tunnel construction are shown in Fig. 1. (A). "Reprinted with permission from Elsevier". For the covering abstract see ITRD E124500.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08867798
• Authors:
  • ISHIDA, Y
  • SUGANOYA, T
  • KAWADA, M
  • SHIMOMA, M
  • ASAKA, T
• Publication Date: 2004-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p494
• Serial:
  • TUNNELLING AND UNDERGROUND SPACE TECHNOLOGY. UNDERGROUND SPACE FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 30TH ITA-AITES WORLD TUNNEL CONGRESS SINGAPORE, 22 - 27 MAY 2004
  • Volume: 19
  • Issue Number: 4-5
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0886-7798

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Construction; Highways; Tunnels
• Geographic Terms: Japan
• ITRD Terms: 8525: Conference; 3655: Construction; 2755: Highway; 8053: Japan; 3374: Tunnel
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Highways; I54: Construction of Tunnels;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01011645
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 19 2005 3:23PM