With the closure of Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct, there has been a lot of attention on the progress of Bertha, the tunnel-boring machine carving out the new State Route 99 tunnel to replace it.
Given all this focus on Bertha, I began thinking about the pros and cons of naming tunnel-boring machines. Apparently, it is a common practice for construction workers to name tunneling machines after women. According to an article in the LA Times, “Naming digging equipment after women is a tradition that dates to the 1500s, they say, when miners prayed to St. Barbara to keep them safe underground.”
Today, to come up with names for these machines, many cities hold naming contests. For instance, officials with the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Los Angeles County transportation, and the city of Toronto all recently have held contests or our holding contests to name tunnel-boring equipment.
According to the WSDOT website, “Bertha’s name was chosen as part of a contest for kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Proposed names had to be female and have significance to Washington state heritage, life, nature, transportation or engineering.” A panel of officials made the final selection – Bertha – after Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle’s only female mayor and the first woman to lead a major American city. (She served as mayor of Seattle from 1926 – 1928).
So what are the pros and cons of naming tunnel-boring machines? I thought it would be interesting to consider these from a marketing and public relations perspective.
By naming a tunnel-boring machine, there is a humanization of the machine and the project. It can make a mundane equipment purchase seem more exciting to name it. In addition, if you allow the public to help come up with a name, it raises awareness for the project. Finally, a name makes it easier for everyone to talk about the project. In Seattle, for better or for worse, Bertha is synonymous with the Highway 99 project.
But there can be a downside of naming equipment. The biggest risk is if the project has delays or problems, the name takes on a significant amount of negative connotations. For instance, in Seattle many people are not happy about Bertha. The project is significantly behind schedule, it is the reason for the closure of the viaduct, and it has resulted in sinking ground. Just mention Bertha at a party and Seattleites will likely have a story about how the construction on the tunnel has adversely effected them. You will probably spend the next 10 to 15 minutes hearing about traffic jams and longer commutes.
Finally, some people believe that the names can create confusion. The Seattle Times recently reported that Sound Transit decided to forgo using names (Brenda and Pamela) for its tunneling machines. Spokespeople for Sound Transit stated that they were not naming their machines because they did not want people to confuse their project with Bertha. Instead, they will refer to their equipment as tunnel-boring machine 1 and tunnel-boring machine 2.
What are your thoughts? Was it a positive thing or a negative thing to name the tunnel-boring machine Bertha? I think if the tradition of naming machines continues it would be wonderful to see the tradition updated to include male or animal names.