Potomac River Tunnel
Contract B Tunnel System Construction
Design-Build
38°53’00.8″N 77°02’48.2″W / Washington, D.C., USA
Quick Facts
DC Water
Client
2
TBMs used
5.5
mile-long main tunnel
18 feet internal diameter, 100 feet deep
93%
reduction of CSOs
into the Potomac River in an average year of rainfall
More clean water
The next major phase of the DC Clean Rivers Project
Part of DC Water’s $2.99B Clean Rivers Project, a vast program to improve the water quality in the region, the project is a major environmental initiative designed to control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and improve water quality in the Potomac River. The purpose of this project is to collect and store combined sewer system discharges and stormwater run-off during storm events that exceed the capacity of the combined sewer system along the Potomac River in the District and convey them to DC Water’s Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant at Blue Plains. The main tunnel will cross variable geological conditions (clay, alluvium, hard rock) and will pass close to Washington DC’s iconic monuments. It will require the use of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs), customized specifically for these soil conditions. Ancillary structures comprise of shafts, adits connecting to the main tunnel, and near surface structures which link the new infrastructure to the existing sewage system. The project will increase the capacity of the sewer system using deep storage tunnels and will significantly decrease CSO overflow events impacting the Potomac River, the fourth-largest river along the US East Coast. Halmar, as part of a JV, is committed to completing this important project through a sustainable delivery approach.
Additional key facts:



