Engineers İdentify Problem Spots İn Metro Tunnel Building

A team of engineers has identified three potential areas of subsidence along the planned route for the underground section of Panama’s Metro subway.

The revelations came during a conference on tunneling at the City of Knowledge early in the week.

The potential problem areas are on Fernandez de Cordoba, and where Justo Arosemena joins Via Espana and Albrook.

Agustin Arias, chief engineeering adviser of the Panama Metro Secretariat said that although the land where the tunnel will run shows , 70%, rock characteristics (ideal for working with TBMs) in the three sectors identified in the field there are groundwater levels (humidity) that would cause subsidence, or settlement.

The engineer said that to avoid complications, when they begin excavations, water levels in boreholes must be detected as a preventive measure.
Soil studies and surveys that have been made throughout the project where the tunnel will be excavated indicate that any settlement would be found under the tracks and under buildings.

Arias said that as the country does not have previously built tunnels, it is difficult to record how the ground will react.
Robert Roy, executive secretary of the Panama Metro, said that the route of the subway tunnel has two sharp turns: one at the end of the road Fernandez de Cordoba, entering via Espana and another in a point where Espana is linked to Justo Arosemena.