URS Corporation, in JV with DMJM+Harris, was selected to design Phase III of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Silver Line in Boston. Phase III consists of bus rapid transit (BRT) tunnels, with provisions for future light rail vehicle (LRV) adaptation, from South Station to New England Medical Center. The Silver Line is the MBTA's fifth transit line on the nation's oldest transit system and the first use of bus rapid transit (BRT). The BRT line will connect Roxbury, the South End and Chinatown to the city's commercial and services core as well as to the emerging South Boston Waterfront District and Logan International Airport.In addition to the tunnel design, the project includes strategic support for Federal Transit Administration submissions, extensive community participation and outreach services, operations, project controls and administration, systems design, station design and development, civil and environmental engineering and planning.URS's Boston office has been involved with the Silver Line project since its inception in the late 1980s, having completed the design for Phase I, and the conceptual design for Phases II and III. For Phase III, URS leads a design team that prepared a conceptual design report and cost estimate for the project. The report provided a conceptual design for the 1,650 m-long Silver Line tunnels from beneath the existing Green Line at Boylston Station to a new portal near Tremont and Oak Streets and for a new Silver Line Station at New England Medical Center. Construction is expected to start in 2006, with operations to commence in late 2010. The estimated construction cost is USD540 million. Visit www.allaboutsilverline.com and www.urscorp.com 04/04.

The San Diego County Water Authority has selected Jacobs Engineering Group to provide construction management and inspection services for the Lake Hodges Projects portion of the Emergency Storage Project. The Lake Hodges Projects include a 4.27 m-diameter high-pressure water transmission tunnel that spans 1,860 m and a 40 MW pump-turbine facility operating between two reservoirs. The contract, which covers four years, includes services during the pre-construction and construction phases of the project. Visit www.jacobs.com and www.sdcwa.org/infra/pdf/LakeHodges_FactSheet.pdf 46/03.

The proposed rail freight tunnel that would run under the harbour from Brooklyn to New Jersey has received $2 million in federal funding to complete its Environmental Impact Study (EIS), and then begin preengineering work if the study proves favourable. Estimated costs for the construction of the tunnel range from $1 billion to more than $2 billion, based on the number of tracks that would run through the tunnel. One- and two-rail options are being explored. Read E-News Weekly # 46. 09/03.

The Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport has awarded Affholder Inc. a $20.96 million tunnelling contract for the installation of 1.6 km of 2.75 m-diameter and 623 metres of 2.45 m-diameter storm drain in a soft rock tunnel bored with a 3.86 m-diameter Lovat TBM. Work start in October 2002 for completion in approximately 12 months. The project is part of a $2.6 billion programme to construct DFW's new international Terminal D. Visit www.insituform.com 43/02.

The City of Davenport is to decide about the design of a $22.2 million sewer tunnel by Stanley Consultants Inc. of Muscatine, Iowa who recommended it in 2001 as part of a $183 million sanitary scheme. The 1.5 m-diameter tunnel would run for 4.8 km on Davenport's west side from Duck Creek to the Mississippi river in a ravine roughly parallel to Howell Street. A 3.2 km section would be underground. Construction could begin in 2004. Visit www.ci.davenport.ia.us and www.stanleygroup.com/sci/index.html 42/02.

The Austin-based Lower Colorado River Authority has begun work on a 2.1 km-long 2.8 m-diameter tunnel for a wastewater treatment plant in Williamson County. The TBM-driven tunnel runs from downtown Round Rock off State Highway 79, under I-35 and continues west of the Georgetown Railroad to connect previously installed upstream and downstream portions of the Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater System. The tunnel is needed for a 27.3 km system that will extend from the Cedar Park Wastewater Treatment Facility to the Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, adjacent to Highway 79 just east of the Dell Diamond. The tunnel will be constructed in a stiff, expansive clay and a competent limestone. A complex fault zone marking the contact between the two formations will be crossed. Tunnelling is expected to end in August 2003 and the Brushy Creek Wastewater System Project is to be completed by October 2004. Design by Brierley Associates and PBS&J. Visit www.lcra.org 39/02.

C$450-million private sector financing sought by the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership (DRTP) as part of an estimated C$600 million (US$400 million) plan to convert the current twin-tube rail tunnel under the Detroit river across the border between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan into a truck route and to build a new single-tube rail tunnel to accommodate all rail cars. Preliminary designs and preparatory work almost completed. DRTP is a partnership between Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Borealis Transportation Infrastructure Trust (BTIT). The tunnel could be completed in early 2007. More info in E-News Weekly # 33. 36/02.

Proposal by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to build 64 km of tunnels and sewers as part of a $519 million project to clean up Lake Erie. Tunnels would be 1.8 to 7.3 m in diameter with 23 km from E. 55th St to E. 185th St and under the University. Time frame spread over 25 years or more. 48/01. The regional sewer district plans to build 35 miles (56 km) of sewers and storage tunnels as part of a $371 million project to reduce pollution flowing into the Cuyahoga river and several tributaries. The project is the fourth and last that the regional sewer district has developed over the past eight years to control the amount of both sanitary sewer waste and storm water that goes into Lake Erie, the Cuyahoga and other Greater Cleveland's waterways. The project will replace aging sewer systems on Cleveland's south side and in Brooklyn, Newburgh Heights, Cuyahoga Heights and Linndale. Two deep sewer tunnels are the centrepiece of the southerly plan, which cost $8.5 million. They will collect and hold 100 million gallons (378 million litres). Work to start in 2007 and to be done over 30 years. 26/02.With more than 120 km of tunnels built over a span of 30 years, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) is one of North America's more experienced agencies in tunnel design and construction. The NEORSD has selected Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) to design the Euclid Creek storage tunnel project, the largest diameter tunnel in their conveyance network to date. The tunnel will store 208.2 million litres of combined sewer overflow along a 4.8 km alignment and will range from 7.3 to 8.5 m in diameter. The tunnel will discharge by gravity into a future pumping station at the Easterly wastewater treatment plant. The project will help limit and control CSO discharges to Cleveland's east side creeks, streams, and Lake Erie. Project facilities will include numerous construction shafts, diversion structures and drop structures, and 1.6 km of near-surface consolidation sewers. Design completion is targeted for June 2007, with start of construction expected in early 2008. Visit www.hatchmott.com and www.neorsd.org 30/06.

Tender alert for construction of 5.74 km-long, 7.64 m internal diameter Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel (ECT). To be driven in Chagrin Shale, with possible gas, at average depth 63.65 m. Includes construction of four flow drop shafts and 12.7 m-diameter access shaft on 5.4 acre site at Bratenahl. Tunnel lining from within TBM tailskin using bolted, gasketed, steel fibre reinforced concrete segments with backgrouting. Advertisement imminent. More from Kellie Rotunno at NEORSD in Cleveland, OH, tel +1 216 881-6600 or visit www.neorsd.org/ect. Project history in tunnelbuilder archive us/76. 31/10.

Bid opening/proposal, deadline 30.09.2010, for 5.74 km-long, 7.64 m ID Euclid Creek tunnel, estimate EUR163 million. Plans and bidders' list available at www.neorsd.org/neorsd_bids.php?a=con_bid&i=1791. More from Kelly Rotunno at NEORSD in Cleveland, tel +1 216 881-6600, website www.neorsd.org/ect. 37/10.

EUR160 million, 5.74 km-long, 7.64 m internal diameter Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel (ECT) getting underway by contractor McNally/Kiewit ECT JV in Chagrin Shale, with possible gas, at average depth 63.65 m. Contract includes construction of four flow drop shafts and 12.7 m-diameter access shaft completed on 5.4 acre site at Bratenahl. Tunnel lining from within TBM tailskin using bolted, gasketed, steel fibre reinforced concrete segments with backgrouting. More from Kellie Rotunno at NEORSD in Cleveland, OH, tel +1 216 881-6600 or visit www.neorsd.org/ect. Project history in tunnelbuilder archive us/76. Project management by Hatch Mott MacDonald www.hatchmott.com/projects/euclid-creek-cso. 23/12.

Salini Impregilo has signed a EUR123 million contract to build the Dugway Storage Tunnel in Cleveland, Ohio. The Dugway Storage Tunnel is 4.5 km-long, 8 m-diameter. The contract includes the construction of six shafts of varying diameters and depths, connections between the tunnel and the shafts, and a series of concrete structures for the collection and transporting of wastewater and rainwater. Visit http://www.neorsd.org and http://www.salini-impregilo.com/en/press/press-releases/the-salini-impregilo-group-wins-a-new-project-in-usa.html. 46/14.

Award to Parsons Brinckerhoff of Caltrans contract for design of 1.27 km-long x 15 m-diameter fourth tube at Caldecott on Route 24 between San Francisco, Alameda County and Contra Costa County together with upgraded operations centre. Visit www.pbworld.com 18/02.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has awarded a $116.8 million contract to the J.F. Shea Construction, Inc./Kenny Construction Co. jv to build a 11.4 km sewer at the northwest side of Milwaukee County. The tunnel, with a finished diameter of 6.1 m and an excavation diameter of 6.7 m, will be lined with 30.5 cm of cast-in-place concrete. There will also be a 6.1 m-diameter access shaft, a 7.3 m-diameter valve shaft, and three diversion structures with approach channel, drop shaft, vent shaft, deaeration chamber, and access shaft. The sewer is between 36 m and 50 m deep. Excavation in Niagaran age dolomite with average unconfined compressive strength and indirect tensile strength of 30,000 psi and 2,000 psi, respectively. The overlying soils are generally described as heterogeneous, complex, and interbedded layers of Holocene (recent) and glacial deposits. One Robbins TBM will be used from a single heading (south). All muck will be removed from the south shaft. Initial rock support will be primarily by rockbolts although there are provisions for steel channels and ribs if necessary. Preliminary engineering was performed by the jv of Rust Environment & Infrastructure/Harza Engineering with final design being completed by Black & Veatch, Inc. Financing by the MMSD through the local tax base with some assistance from the State of Wisconsin Clean Water Loan Fund. A notice to proceed is expected on 1st April, 2002 and construction time is 44 months. Visit www.mmsd.com, www.jfshea.com or www.bv.com/bv/index.htm 10/02.The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) announced that Affholder was awarded the contract to build the 27th Street deep tunnel, a 3.2 km-long 6.4 m-diameter tunnel about 90 metres underground in bedrock to hold wastewater and help prevent sewer overflows. The USD65.3 million extension, from West Hampton Avenue and North 30th Street in Milwaukee, where it will be connected to the North Shore leg of the tunnel system, to North Sydney Place and West Mill Road in Glendale, is part of MMSD's USD1 billion Overflow Reduction Plan. The tunnel will store up to 102.2 million litres of wastewater when it is completed by 31st December, 2009 boosting the tunnel system's total storage capacity to 2 billion litres.Insituform Technologies, parent of contractor Affholder, said on 29th March, 2007 that it will exit the tunnelling business in an effort to focus on its core operations of rehabilitating, replacing and maintaining sewer and water pipelines primarily for municipal customers. Insituform said it will seek a buyer or buyers for its tunnelling business and associated assets. Read E-News Weekly 15/2007 for more. Visit www.mmsd.com/news/27thStDeepTunnelNR.pdf 15/07.