‘Generational project’: 4 The Record learns about ALCOSAN’s Ohio River Tunnel Project
During Sunday’s edition of 4 The Record, host Lily Coleman sat down with several leaders at ALCOSAN to learn about the Ohio River Tunnel Project and the utility’s Clean Water Plan
PITTSBURGH —
It’s something leaders at ALCOSAN are calling a “generational project for our region.”
During Sunday morning’s edition of 4 The Record, host Lily Coleman learned about the utility’s Ohio River Tunnel Project, which will traverse five miles underground.
The project has been in the works since 2008, with the Ohio River Tunnel just one part of it.
Ultimately, ALCOSAN is planning three tunnels beneath the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
The tunnel is one component of ALOCOSAN’s broader Clean Water Plan, which is designed to reduce sewage overflows into local waterways.
The work happening on the Ohio River Tunnel will include a tunnel boring machine that ALCOSAN Director of Engineering & Construction Kim Kennedy said, “is a pretty advanced piece of machinery that will be built specifically for the specifications outlined in our contract documents. But there is a whole industry of folks who build tunnels for subways for mining and then for combined sewer overflow projects (and) for flood projects. So there’s an entire tunneling industry with really talented labor that does this all over the world. So this is our first one in Pittsburgh. Well, we have the North Shore connector, but this is much deeper, obviously.”
To bring the project to life required the cooperation and input of dozens of Pittsburgh-area communities.
Of that, ALCOSAN Manager of Regionalization Julia Spicher said, “Pittsburgh has always tackled big issues as a group. Right. So this region really works together. And we’re not afraid of these large infrastructure needs or these large problems we’re facing.”
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE