Perhaps more than any other field, underground projects involve an unusual mixture of art and the science of engineering. John Reilly’s consulting involves management, strategic planning, contracting, partnering, value engineering and risk mitigation for complex infrastructure, systems and underground programs.
John Reilly was US representative and Animateur for the International Tunneling Association (ITA) Working Group 13 which examines the direct and indirect benefits of underground projects.
In 2000, John sponsored a world-wide review of such underground projects, recently updated, in order to better understand what makes one project successful while another can have major problems.
Areas of concern include quality, cost and schedule performance and the avoidance of disputes, claims and litigation. Types of projects include large complex infrastructure and transportation programs including underground design and construction.
- Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) including open digger shields, slurry shields, earth-pressure balanced machines, convertible machines (mix-shields), hard rock machines.
- Cut-and-cover line and station structures for transit systems
- Soft earth tunnels using steel, cast-iron and concrete liners
- Single and double track rock tunnels using NATM or ribs and concrete
- Mined rock station construction using rock-bolts, shotcrete and steel sets
- Large scale jacked-pipe, medium diameter, tunnel systems
- Underpinning construction including slurry wall earth retaining and underpinning systems
Specific Projects and Assignments include:
Engineering coordination and technical management of underground cut-and-cover and NATM rock stations; cut-and-cover, earth and NATM rock tunnel line sections; underpinning of buildings by jacked-piles and permanent slurry walls. Planning for machine bored line tunnels in rock. Washington DC Metro System 1969 – 1972- Secretary, Board of Engineering Consultants, Washington DC Metro System 1969 – 1972
- Advisory services, Federal US buildings, Washington DC. Impact, cost reduction and mitigation of effects caused by earth tunnels adjacent to historic buildings. General Services Administration 1974 – 1978
- Project and design management for a permanent slurry wall system acting as underpinning and final tunnel wall. MBTA, Southwest Corridor Project, Boston 1982 – 1985
- Evaluation of advanced European underground engineering and construction technologies for the US market. Focus on technologies, value and cost competition, new capabilities and acceptance. Systems included earth pressure-balanced shields in soft ground with extruded concrete lining, soft ground NATM construction, specialized diaphragm and cut-off walls. Hochtief AG with Dames and Moore, 1987 – 1988
- Engineering alternatives including cost and technical merit of large underground interaction chambers, 54 miles of precast jacked tunnels, access and ventilation shafts. US Superconducting Supercollider, State of Florida proposal to DOE 1987
- Engineering and construction alternatives, impact analysis – proposal to tunnel Route 1 under historic Old Town, Alexandria Virginia, 1987
- Construction management and inspection, underpinning of historic buildings, Back Bay, Boston Massachusetts, 1987 – 1989, 1999
- Los Angeles Mined Transit Stations task force. Management of a technically focused team to evaluate options and technical implications of using alternative construction methods – including full underground mining – for the heavy rail transit stations of the Red Line, Segment 2. Los Angeles Metro, Rail Construction Corporation, 1991
- Opinion, technical merit and value, related to elimination of reinforcement for the final tunnel liner, Los Angeles Metro System. Scope included soil-structure interaction, concrete integrity, durability, dynamic analysis and earthquake forces in real time. 1992
Engineering coordination and technical management of underground cut-and-cover and NATM rock stations; cut-and-cover, earth and NATM rock tunnel line sections; underpinning of buildings by jacked-piles and permanent slurry walls. Planning for machine bored line tunnels in rock. Washington DC Metro System 1969 – 1972Previous presentations to, and discussions with, International Underground Association representatives include management, contacting, risk mitigation, alliancing and partnering for complex, underground projects. Overviews and news updates are given elsewhere in this Website – please see the specific headings on the left of the home page. These concepts are more fully discussed in John’s paper on Management, Contracting and Risk Mitigation – see the Publications listing on this Website
