ABSTRACT
An overview ..........................................................................................................25 The importance of geological setting ................................................................28 An historical perspective.....................................................................................28 An example of an earlier time – filling of Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts........................................................................................28
Tunneling then and now .....................................................................................30 Buildings and infrastructure; then and now....................................................36 Excavation challenges ..........................................................................................36 Underpinning challenges ....................................................................................43 The interrelationship of geotechnical and environmental issues .................46 Summary ................................................................................................................47 References...............................................................................................................48
Construction in an urban environment has never been easy, but it was simpler during the first half of the 20th Century than after World War II. Urban construction is complex. Figure 3.1, which is a photograph of a small portion of the most complex urban highway construction project ever undertaken in the United States, illustrates the point.
