Some new computer applications are being developed for and applied to the construction planning and traffic studies associated with the design of the central artery and third harbor tunnel in boston. This project is one of the most massive and complex urban highway projects in the country. It features an immersed-tube harbor tunnel, depression of the downtown expressway in a cut-and-cover tunnel without interrupting service on the existing overhead viaduct, major new or revised urban interchanges and long-span river crossings. The construction site, with its old existing and historic buildings and subways, permits limited clearances, posing formidable challenges to engineers planning the work. The computer applications described include computerized composite mapping for archeological planning; analysis of multilevel curved-girder viaducts; transportation forecasting using highway network models; planning associated with the construction of the depressed central artery tunnels; and computer-aided planning and mitigation measures for underpinning, protection of a subway tube, and other construction problems. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1282, Transportation construction 1990.
Abstract