(Newswire.net — October 15, 2018) — The city of Akron, Ohio was the recent recipient of the 2018 Engineering Excellence Award and the 2018 Facility Image Award from the Ohio Water Environment Association. The engineering award was given to Akron for its Water Reclamation Facility’s Step Feed Phase 1 project which is the first stage in the city’s long-term plan, while the Facility award was given in recognition of Akron’s Waterways Renewed! public outreach efforts.
The awards bring additional public attention to the massive tunnel boring project that has been underway in Akron. A massive machine, nicknamed Rosie, spent a year digging an enormous tunnel deep beneath the underbelly of the city. Rosie recently completed its lengthy 6,240-foot journey excavating the city’s sewer system and broke through the ground in a blocked off construction zone near South Main Street and West Exchange Street.
Rosie’s work on the tunnel began in August 2017 as part of the Akron Waterways Renewed! Program which was launched by the city in an effort to control the Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) and update the aging and decrepit sewer infrastructure. The project will help Akron to comply with existing EPA mandates, as dictated by the Federal Consent Decree which was issued to the city in 2009.
At a cost exceeding 1.4 billion dollars, the venture – a joint project of the Illinois-based Kenny Construction Co. and the Tokyo-based Obayashi Corporation – will prevent sewage from reaching and polluting local waterways including the Ohio & Erie Canal and the Little Cuyahoga River. Engineers estimate that workers will need an additional year to put the finishing touches on the tunnel and to connect it to other new and updated sewer systems in downtown. Once all work is completed, the tunnel will be 27 feet wide, 6,240 feet long, and will hold 25.6 million gallons of stormwater and sewage.
This complex and lengthy project comes on the heels of more than 450 millions dollars already invested since 1987 in Akron’s sewer infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants. According to the Akron Waterways Renewed! website, once the project is complete Akron will be “recognized as a community that has used the Integrated Planning approach in re-building its infrastructure to meet all of its needs with more affordable benefits that are achieved earlier.
City officials, Akron residents and Akron based plumbers like C. Lee Services which has been offering sewer system services in the city for over 30 years are looking forward to the city’s plumbing infrastructure being updated and modernized for the benefit of the residents and the environment.
With Rosie’s work complete, the huge 30 feet wide and 300 feet long machine will be taken apart and then sold.