The Ship Canal Water Quality Project has been under construction since late 2018. On June 15 at 10:18 am the 5.48 m (18-foot) diameter TBM MudHoney, completed tunneling all 4250,74 m (13,946 feet) from Ballard to Wallingford!  

The TBM was not able to be seen because the Wallingford shaft had to be filled with water to keep groundwater from rushing into the shaft. The TBM sits half-submerged in water at the bottom of a large round concrete shaft.

Now that MudHoney has finished tunnelling and installing the last few tunnel segments, the shaft has been emptied and crews will start taking apart the TBM. The contractor is planning to sell MudHoney back to its manufacturer in Germany that has a process to refurbish it or at least reuse major pieces on future TBMs.    

This project is a partnership between Seattle Public Utilities and King County Wastewater Treatment Division to build an underground storage tunnel to significantly reduce the amount of polluted stormwater (from rain) and sewage that overflows into the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Salmon Bay, and Lake Union from our sewer system.   

Watch Seattle Channel’s video to learn about the 4.35 km (2.7-mile) long underground train ride along the  5.49 m (18-ft) diameter tunnel built by MudHoney from Ballard to Wallingford. 

Click here for another video, here and us/127 for more detailed information and project news in the tunnelbuilder archive.  Visit http://www.seattle.gov/. 26/23.