Council gives initial OK on contract for sewer tunnel

Council gives initial OK on contract for sewer tunnel.
The Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday granted unanimous preliminary approval for a $187.7 million construction contract to build the Three Rivers Overflow Reduction and Protection Tunnel.
The Fort Wayne tunnel is the joint venture’s fourth combined sewer overflow project, City Utilities’ Mike Kiester told the council.
The company recently installed a freshwater intake at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Kiester said, which consisted of a 23.5-foot-diameter tunnel that is 15,000 feet long and 600 feet deep.
“It was the highest water-pressure project ever done in the United States,” Kiester said.
The tunnel boring machine will run 24 hours a day, five or six days a week, Kiester said.
Safety will be a major component of the project, Kiester said, adding that the selected contractor will be providing dedicated safety staff members to monitor the construction process.
Once construction begins, there will be a phone line, operated 24 hours a day, which residents can call should they have safety concerns.
The massive project is also expected to create local jobs, Kiester said.
In other business, the City Council approved more than $25 million in street and road improvement projects, including a $14 million expansion of Dupont Road between Lima and Coldwater roads.

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