Shea/Traylor/Healy well into contract 2 with 8.3 km of total 19 km of 4.93 m-diameter drive completed using Robbins TBM with CTS backup and now gearing up for contract 3A which involves another 1.34 km using roadheader and TBM. Obayashi/Modern Continental meanwhile have completed over 3.4 km of contract 6054 which comprises 7.82 km of 5 m-diameter rockbolted drive using a CTS TBM. Some 1.2 km was in hard, abrasive rock which necessitated cutter changes at a rate of one every 1.5 m of advance. March 1999.   Contract 242 by Shea/Traylor/Healy has completed 8.75 km drive west to break into shaft constructed by adjacent contractor Obayashi/Modern Continental under separate contract. The latter have advanced 5.9 km using 5.25 m-diameter CTS TBM with 2.26 km to complete. Shea/Traylor/Healy now halfway through their 11 km drive west while also mining 1.4 km TBM/roadheader drive under contract CP3A. Sept 1999.  Obayashi/Modern Continental reports mining in difficult ground through a fault zone on contract 6054 with 6.4 km of the total 8.15 km completed. Grouting with steel sets and wire mesh lagging. November 1999.At 31st October, 2001, work was well underway on the 28.6 km MetroWest water supply tunnel (MWWST). The 7.9 km western tunnel segment CP-1 from Shaft E in Southborough to the 62.8 m-deep Shaft D in Marlborough was 79% completed by the Obayashi/Modern Continental jv using a TBM. The contractor completed the excavation of the tunnel in July, 2000. From Shaft D, the MWWST will connect to the Walnut Hill water treatment plant and to the existing Cosgrove tunnel. Tunnel concrete lining operation began in December, 2000 and by end-October 2001, over 4.1 km of the tunnel has been lined which represents a 53% completion. Over the next few months, the contractor will carry on with the tunnel lining and the grouting operations in the lined section. Work on the CP-1 segment is about seven days behind schedule. Completion is expected for April, 2003. Contract value is $149.7 million. Visit www.obayashi.co.jp and www.moderncontinental.comThe 19.1 km middle tunnel segment CP-2 in Southborough, Framingham, Wayland and Weston was 84% completed by a jv of Shea, Traylor Bros., and Healy. It was tunnelled in two directions using two TBMs from the 123.7 m-deep Shaft L. The 8.5 km west heading tunnel was completed in July, 1999 with 1,280 metres lined with concrete on 31st October, 2001. The 10.6 km east heading tunnel was bored under Dudley Pond in Wayland and past the interconnections at Shafts NE and NW in Weston continues eastward to the eastern tunnel segment. It was completed in May, 2000. The contractor has currently lined 7 km, 66% complete. The raise boring excavation of Shaft NE, 4 m in diameter x 131 m-deep, was completed on 19th November, 2001. It is the last shaft on the MWWST project. Work on the CP-2 segment is on schedule for completion in April, 2003. Contract value is $254.5 million. Visit www.traylor.com and www.sahealy.com The 1.4 km eastern tunnel segment CP-3A connects the CP-2 segment with Shaft 5A, at the east end of the system, where it will connect to the existing Boston city tunnel to the south and with the 96 m-deep Shaft W and storage tanks to the north. Excavation of the tunnel was completed at spring 2000 by the same jv as CP-2. Concrete lining ended in February, 2001. Since then, 670 metres of 3.05-3.7 m pipes to connect Shaft 5A to the city tunnel is in progress. This contract will be completed in July, 2002. Value is $56.9 million. Visit www.mwra.state.ma.us/water/html/metrow.htm for a full project overview. 03/02.