“Brenda” at the Maple Leaf Tunnel Portal

5/7/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink, Sailor pen, Diamine Grey ink, Zig markers, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Bertha, the tunnel-boring machine that has lately been laid up in digging the waterfront tunnel, has a little sister, Brenda. The smaller digger just started working at Sound Transit’s Maple Leaf Tunnel Portal, where light rail trains will eventually enter the tunnel between downtown Seattle and Northgate. 

I’ve been seeing some action from I-5 when I pass the Northgate area, so I decided it was time to investigate. Brenda’s front end was mostly obscured by tall fencing, so I walked to where an opening in the fence revealed Brenda’s back end. If you can’t really tell what’s going on in my sketch, it’s because I couldn’t, either. But sometime soon Brenda will be completely obscured as she digs her way south, so I probably don’t have many more opportunities to sketch this site.