Aug 03, 2014 2:51 AM GMT

NYT: The robot is named Bertha and she is devouring earth underneath Seattle to create new tunnels to route traffic along the waterfront. The robot was recently stopped by allegedly a pipe. Beyond Bertha’s problems, the tunnel plan itself has also become intertwined with a larger debate about the city’s future, as the biggest building boom in at least a decade is reshaping the skyline and adding thousands of new residents — and their cars.
More than 100 residential and commercial building projects are in some stage of construction, permitting or completion in downtown Seattle — the most since at least 2005 — the Downtown Seattle Association, a trade group, said in June.
Seattle already had the fourth worst traffic congestion in the nation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/02/us/reanimating-bertha-the-mechanical-behemoth-stuck-under-seattle.html?