…Continued from Insect Zoo.
Les AuCoin Plaza in Portland, Oregon on September 24, 2009
In the parking lot shared by the zoo and the other attractions in the southwest corner of Washington Park is Les AuCoin Plaza, named for Oregon politician Walter Leslie "Les" AuCoin, who served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1971 to 1975 representing the 4th District and holding the position of Majority Leader in his second term, and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1993 as the first Democrat to represent Oregon's 1st District since its creation in 1882.
Robertson Tunnel Core Section on September 24, 2009
Beneath Les AuCoin Plaza and accessible by elevators is the Washington Park MAX light rail station, the only underground station on the MAX system and at 260 feet underground is the deepest underground transit station in North America. MAX trains access the station through the twin bores of the 3-mile Robertson Tunnel, named after William D. Robertson, Jr., who was President of the TriMet Board of Directors when he died in 1997 while the light rail line was under construction. On the surface is a section of tunnel core from the Robertson Tunnel, accompanied by a variety of facts about the construction of the tunnel.
Robertson Tunnel Facts on September 24, 2009
The Robertson Tunnel was bored through 15.6-million-year-old basalt rock deposited by lava flowing from fissures near Pendleton to the Pacific Ocean. Geologists drilled 102 test holes to collect 20,000 feet of core samples. The 21'-3"-diameter twin tunnels were excavated between 1994 and 1996. A tunnel boring machine drilled two miles from the east end, wearing out 341 400-pound cutting discs. Crews averaging 16 and up to 32 miners per shift excavated from the west end for one mile using explosives, around the clock six days a week for over two years for a total of 481,216 person-hours.
Robertson Tunnel Facts on September 24, 2009
The miners were an average of 37 years old and earned about $21 per hour. They wore out 1,481 pairs of rubber boots and drank 54,962 cups of coffee. 420,405 cubic yards of rock, enough to fill a 19-story building the size of a football field, was removed during the excavation. 126,100 cubic yards of concrete was used to line the tunnels. The temperature in the tunnels averages 53 degrees Fahrenheit year-round.
Robertson Tunnel Facts on September 24, 2009
Continue to World Forestry Center Discovery Museum…
No comments:
Post a Comment