The world's largest-diameter tunnel boring machine is being loaded in 41 pieces onto a ship in Japan for a trip to Seattle.

The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce reports (http://bit.ly/10lpuKO) the $80 million machine called Bertha was built at a factory in Osaka and is expected to arrive by the end of the month.

Bertha will be reassembled in a pit to tunnel a new Highway 99 route under downtown Seattle to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The tunnel will have a diameter of nearly 58 feet and is scheduled to open in late 2015.

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Information from: Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, http://www.djc.com/