Tunnel starts in St Louis
20 February 2014SAK Construction launched the 11.25ft diameter TBM mining the Lemay Redundant Force Main in St Louis, Missouri, for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD).
The 3,028ft long tunnel will be excavated primarily through limestone. The project will allow the Lemay Wastewater Treatment Plant to accept a higher volume of wastewater, and allow MSD to inspect the original Force Main for the first time since its construction in the 1960s.
SAK has launched the TBM from a southern shaft, some 175ft deep, and breakthrough on the tunnel at the northern shaft, approximately 128ft deep, is anticipated for mid-April.
The TBM was most recently used on El Encanto HEP, an 8,202ft Main Power Tunnel in Miramar, Costa Rica in 2009, and was previously deployed on tunnels in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Shannon & Wilson is the construction manager for the Lemay project. The firm will provide design review and construction management for the Jefferson Barracks conveyance and storage tunnel and Lower Middle River Des Peres conveyance and storage tunnel
In December, Black & Veatch announced MSD had selected a BV-lead team to manage the construction of more than USD 500M in future tunnel projects to address sewer overflows.
The team is responsible for construction management of up to seven different tunnels. The tunnels will range from 9ft (2.7m) in diameter to more than 20ft (6m). The longest tunnel will be nearly seven miles long (11.2km). All tunnels will be approximately 150 to 250ft (46 - 76m) below the surface. It will take approximately 15 to 20 years to complete all of the tunnels and initial construction is expected to begin by early 2015.
