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MMSD approves $81 million Deep Tunnel extension
Published March 26, 2007 - BizTimes Daily
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The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) board of commissioners approved an $81 million extension to Milwaukee's Deep Tunnel system.
The extension, which will increase the tunnel's capacity by 27 million gallons, is needed to reduce the risks of basement backups and sewer overflows, according to the MMSD.
The new 27th Street tunnel, which will be part of MMSD's $1 billion overflow reduction plan, will stretch two miles long, about 300 feet underground, from Hampton Avenue and 30th Street in Milwaukee to Sydney Place and Mill Road in Glendale.
MMSD contends that its Deep Tunnel system has prevented more than 64 billion gallons of wastewater from polluting Lake Michigan. Critics say the MMSD is responsible for overflows that are polluting the lake.
Once the new tunnel is completed, the overall system will hold 33 percent more wastewater than the original 405 million gallon system that went into operation in 1993. The northwest side Tunnel, completed in 2006, increased storage capacity by 89 million gallons.
MMSD commissioners today approved a construction contract for Affholder Inc. of St. Louis, Mo, to build the new tunnel. Construction is expected to start in April and finish in the fall of 2009.
Workers will use a large, tunnel-boring machine with a cutting head that is 23 feet in diameter to mine the tunnel in bedrock. The entire tunnel will be lined with one-foot thick wall of concrete.
