Tunnel Short Course Delivers World-Class Agenda

The campus of the Colorado School of Mines played host to the eight annual Tunneling Short Course Sept, 14-17 in Golden, Colorado. The course – titled “Breakthroughs in Tunneling” – featured an expanded agenda, spread over four days for the first time, which was based on feedback from past participants. The course was attended by 146 tunneling professionals from owners, engineers and contractors worldwide.

The course covered all aspects of tunneling and underground construction from site investigations, planning and design through construction and management, as well as safety and legal issues. Course instructors included leading international experts representing all aspects of the industry. New subjects for 2015 included Ground Conditioning for Soft Ground TBMs, Design of Pressure Tunnels, EPB and Slurry TBM Interventions, Tunnel Process Control and Jacked Box Tunneling. In addition, case histories were presented on ongoing or recently completed large prominent tunneling projects.

In addition to the expanded schedule, the course featured a networking reception, sponsored by Michels, Jay Dee and Coluccio on Sept. 14 at the Table Mountain Inn. On Wednesday, the Colorado School of Mines UCA Student Chapter hosted a reception at Petroleum Hall.

While there were new features of the program, there were old favorites as well, including the Annual Banquet, which was held on Sept. 15 at the Golden Hotel. At the Banquet, the Tunnel Achievement Award was bestowed on the San Francisco Bay Tunnel joint venture contractors of Michels-Coluccio-Jay Dee. Michels Corp.’s Jim Stevens, the project manager for the Bay Tunnel, gave the banquet presentation on the project describing its challenges and how they were overcome. Stevens said that teamwork among all project participants was instrumental in completing the 5-mile long tunnel under San Francisco Bay on time and within budget.

Course directors Dr. Levent Ozdemir, former Colorado School of Mines Professor and a Tunneling Consultant, and Tim Coss, Microtunneling Inc., were proud to report a record number (35) of sponsors this year. The course was held in conjunction with Ozdemir Associates, Microtunneling Inc., the Colorado School of Mines’ Office of Special Programs and Continuing Education and TBM: Tunnel Business Magazine. Plans are underway for the ninth annual Tunnel Short Course, which will be held on September 19-22, 2016.