Inspection of Tuscarora Tunnel, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Huntingdon and Franklin Counties, PA

BH is under contract with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to perform a comprehensive, multi-systems inspection of the Tuscarora Tunnel facility, which includes eastbound and westbound tunnel bores, cross-passageways, and the three-story east and west portal buildings.

Our firm inspected and reported on the following items for all of the tunnel systems:

• Structural: all elements, including tunnel walls, arches, ceilings, and portal framing elements.
• Electrical: power, lighting, switchgear, and emergency systems.
• Mechanical: ventilation fans, drainage, fire hydrants and extinguishers, and the HVAC and plumbing in the portal buildings.
• Architectural: brick facade, windows, doors, and other elements

BH developed an MS Access database to track and organize all of the inspection information. The tunnel inspectors used pen tablets with CAD interfaces that also incorporated digital photographs, which made it much easier to track all inspection elements and greatly facilitated development of the Draft Inspection Report.

Our firm was also responsible for documenting our findings and comparing with the findings in a previous inspection report, and developing recommendations. The inspection reports detailed the current condition of the structural, electrical, and mechanical components of the tunnels, and recommendations were made on all components to ensure continued, safe use of the tunnels into the future. These items were delivered to the Turnpike Commission as a finished report, photographs, field forms, and a database, in both hard copy and electronic format.

BH also researched the heavy equipment (fans, motors, etc.) required for the ventilation systems in all the tunnels and provided operation and maintenance (O&M) manuals for the tunnel maintenance supervisors.