Since 2015, the ITA Tunnelling Awards international competition seeks and rewards the most ground-breaking innovation and outstanding projects in tunneling and underground space use. This year, the Los Angeles Regional Connector Transit Project was recognized as Project of the Year in the 50 million to 500 million Euro category at the event held in Miami.
After editions in Hagerbach, Switzerland, Singapore, Paris, France, and Chuzhou, China, the fifth ITA Tunnelling Awards moved to the United States for the 2019 event. The four previous editions of the ITA Tunnelling Awards received 333 entries and 139 nominations, rewarded 41 projects and personalities and gathered almost 1,000 attendees.
The award-winning Regional Connector Transit Project comprises the design-build of a 1.9-mile underground light rail system with three new stations. The contract includes traffic control, permits, support of excavation, tunnelling, concrete works, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, rail and systems. In order to construct the twin tunnels, a single tunnel boring machine (TBM) was rebuilt from Traylor's University Link Light Rail project in Seattle. It was a Herrenknecht TBM modified to navigate the extremely tight radius curves along the alignment.