Assessment of ground conditions anticipated for phase 1 comprising 4.8 km-long, 7.9 m-diameter main spine tunnel; a 9.1 m-diameter shaft at each end for TBM installation and recovery; seven intermediate vertical drop shafts with connecting adits; and a large circular shaft at the southern end to house the pumpstation. Sandstone, siltstone/shale and graphitic shale predominate, with coal appearing in places. Long reaches at the southern end of the alignment are anticipated to be in good-to-average rock. Bidding expected year 2000. More information from Haley & Aldrich, fax +1 617 886 7600. November 1999. Chamber 22 m high x 22 m wide x 38 - 48 m long in design for pump station at south end of spine tunnel. Visit www.haleyaldrich.com Sept 2000.   Construction of three-phase CSO programme will commence mid-2001. Bid documents available mid-May and prebid meeting rescheduled for date to be advised in June, 2001 for phase 1 contract 01:302.06-C for 5.01 km-long, 8.27 m-diameter main spine tunnel in rock; seven adits totalling 1.3 km; two 8.27 m-diameter, 79.57 m-deep work shafts; tunnel pump station cavern 95.5 m-deep, 37.2 m-long x 19 m-wide x 20.7 m-high, connected to surface by 10.18 m-diameter utility shaft and 3.5 m-diameter access shaft; one 2.86 m-diameter drop shaft with 95 cm-diameter vent shaft, 76.38 m-deep. Contact ghughes@louisberger.com 16/01. Administrative delays on the preparation of contract 01:302.06-C (Tunnel) for the Narragansett Bay Commission have led to a resheduling of the tender for Contract 6 as follows: the contract will be advertised on 4th June, 2001; the prebid conference is on 19th June; bid opening 21st August; award will be made during early October, with notice to proceed on 1st November. Contact is Joseph Pratt, tel +1 401 521 5980, or visit www.louisberger.com 22/01. Bids opened 25th September for Narragansett Bay Commission Main Spine Tunnel and Ancillary Facilities, Contract 01:302.06-C as follows: Shank/Balfour Beatty, $163,527,245; JF Shea/Frontier Kemper, $167,600,000; Modern Continental, $227,357,950. Engineer's Estimate, $174,995,088. More from ghughes@louisberger.com or visit www.louisberger.com 40/01.In Providence, the Shank/Balfour Beatty jv has been awarded the contract to build a 5 km waste water tunnel, the Combined Sewer Overflow, in the Narragansett Bay. Visit http://narrabay.com 05/02.76 m-deep 4.9 km-long 7.92 m ID tunnel under Rhode Island's capital Providence under construction by Shank/Balfour Beatty JV using a Hitachi Zosen TBM. Lining with precast concrete segments and concrete final lining. Work on the USD318 million first phase of the CSO project began in May 2001 and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008. The tunnel under construction will stretch from the Field's Point wastewater treatment plant to a foundry complex just west of downtown. The tunnel is designed to hold 235 million litres of the sewage-rainwater mix that would otherwise overflow sewer lines and flow into the Woonasquatucket and Providence Rivers. The project also includes a 35.66 m-long x 18.4 m-wide x 19.8 m-high cavern excavated using the drill/blast method by an Atlas Copco two-boom jumbo, six shafts and several adits.Two more phases are planned after that, possibly ending in 2020, which would involve building more pipes connected to a second wastewater treatment plant at Bucklin Point in East Providence, and constructing another 4.8 km tunnel from that plant to Central Falls. Total cost could reach USD1 billion. Visit www.narrabay.com 03/05.