Location: Waxahachie, Texas

Description: The Superconducting Super Collider was a proposed Department of Energy project to build the world’s largest and most energetic proton accelerator, surpassing the current record held by the Large Hadron Collider. This construction involved excavating an underground elliptical tunnel 54 miles in length, nearly 300 feet below the ground surface, outfitted with superconducting magnets for controlling particle accelerations. A H Beck was contracted to install 17 access shafts, alignment, vent and test shafts varying from 18 to 32 feet in diameter and up to 285 feet deep for facilitating the subject construction. Beck developed a system for installing secant piles to stabilize the upper soft soils and high-torque converted oil drilling technology to excavate the lower shales. Congress discontinued the subject project after the shafts and one-half the tunnel were constructed.

Owner: US Department of Energy

Construction Manager: Parsons Brinkerhoff / Morrison Knudson

Tunnel Contractor: Obayashi Corporation