A joint venture of Lane Construction Corp. and Brayman Construction Corp. has been selected for the Ohio River Tunnel Project in Pittsburgh, the first major component of the Allegheny County Sanitation Authority’s long-term program to reduce sewer overflows and protect the region’s waterways.
Scheduled to begin later this year, Lane/Brayman’s five-year, $1 billion contract calls for the construction of nearly 5 miles of deep tunnels that will channel flows to a new wet weather pumping station at ALCOSAN’s wastewater treatment plant. The project team will use a tunnel boring machine to excavate the 18-foot-diameter main. tunnel approximately 118 feet to 150 feet deep on a 3.8 mile route along the Ohio River. The underground network will also include two 14-foot diameter. secondary tunnels measuring approximately 4,500 and 500 feet in length, and one 600 feet long, 8 feet in diameter. dehydration tunnel in the sewage treatment plant.
The project also includes the construction of eight from 25 to 70 feet in diameter. deep wells, ten flow regulating structures, two technical buildings and a new fluvial outlet.
Lane, the US subsidiary of Webuild Group, will provide project management and core tunneling operations, while Brayman, based in Pittsburgh, will oversee key civil construction and heavy axle activities.
Once complete, ALCOSAN says the system will capture and convey excess wet weather flows, reducing combined sewer overflows into regional waterways by approximately 7 billion gallons annually. The agency will be responsible for operating and maintaining the system, which is designed to last at least 100 years.
Two additional deep tunnels are planned as part of ALCOSAN’s multi-billion regional tunnel program. Tentatively scheduled for full construction over the next 15 years, the planned network will total 16 miles of wet weather tunnel, 40 regulators and more than 30 wells, as well as approximately four miles of consolidation sewer.
