TUNNELS: Devotion to St. Barbara is a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of tunneling

When tunnel workers began their Euclid Creek Tunnel shifts by brassing in—a safety practice of moving a small brass disc from one side of a signboard to another to signify they are heading underground—they passed an unassuming paragraph of text masking-taped to the corner of the painted plywood.

Oh dear St. Barbara, bring us grace and bless us with your everlasting devotion. Protect us from danger and accidental death, and protect us from the evils of this world.

Brassing in and out atop the Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft.

The text is a traditional prayer of Saint Barbara, a third-century Christian martyr who is considered the patron saint of underground workers. Devotions to St. Barbara date back to the "earliest mining traditions" which continue even today.

"December 4th is her feast day," said our Senior Construction Supervisor Ryan Sullivan who is working closely with the Dugway Storage Tunnel project. "The contractors usually find some way to mark the day."

Other traditions are more recent but just as prevalent in the tunneling community, including the practice of naming tunnel boring machines. Just as a boat is christened and named, these large drilling machines that burrow deep underground are traditionally named after a female as a sign of luck and respect.

Our Euclid Creek Tunnel was bored by the TBM named Mackenzie, the same machine that will dig the Dugway Storage Tunnel beginning next year. She is currently being rehabilitated in preparation for her three-mile-long, 24-foot-wide tunneling journey.

We had a chance yesterday to visit our old friend Mackenzie, the tunnel boring machine that dug our Euclid Creek Tunnel. She's in the process of being rehabilitated to be relaunched for a new project, the Dugway Storage Tunnel, next year.

A photo posted by NE Oh Regional Sewer District (@neorsd) on Dec 3, 2015 at 9:55am PST

Mackenzie finished the Euclid Creek Tunnel in 2013, but the tunnel was not fully complete ($3.6 million under budget) until this year.

LOOK: Have a peek at the restoration plans for two Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft sites

Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft site 5

Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft site4

With the Euclid Creek Tunnel now complete on time and under budget, the Sewer District has set its sights on site restoration at two important community locations: Shaft 4 at Triangle Park at East 174 Street, and Shaft 5 at Nottingham Road and St. Clair Avenue.

The restoration contract was awarded to Nerone & Sons, Inc. on July 16, 2015. Substantial completion for the two site restorations shown above is expected in the spring of 2016.

The Euclid Creek Tunnel is the first of seven tunnels that will be completed under Project Clean Lake. When the Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station is complete at the end of 2016, the Euclid Creek Tunnel will be fully operational and will reduce combined sewer overflow by approximately 368 million gallons per year.

NEWS: Euclid Creek Tunnel completed $3.6 million under budget

First tunnel under Project Clean Lake now complete, sets benchmark for future cost-saving opportunities

Tunnel boring machine Mackenzie being disassembled
after completing her Euclid Creek Tunnel route,
September, 2013

Today, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Board of Trustees passed Resolution 238-15, a Final Adjusting Change Order, for the Euclid Creek Tunnel. As a result of outstanding project management, this contract will close $3,602,637.77 under budget.

The Euclid Creek Tunnel, originally a $198 million project, is the first in a series of storage tunnels constructed as a part of Project Clean Lake, the Sewer District’s 25-year, $3 billion program to drastically reduce the amount of combined sewage entering local waterways annually.

“Our engineering and construction team worked diligently to complete this project under budget,” said Kellie Rotunno, Chief Operating Officer, “The Euclid Creek Tunnel sets a new financial benchmark as we continue to identify cost-savings and save our customers money.”

The Sewer District has already realized $330 million in savings since the inception of Project Clean Lake. This savings has come from value engineering, contract management and a highly competitive bidding environment.

“I am proud of all the accomplishments we’ve made during my tenure as CEO,” said Julius Ciaccia, CEO. “Project Clean Lake is one of the region’s largest infrastructure investments and this tunnel system will keep hundreds of millions of gallons of combined sewage out of Lake Erie each year.”

BUSINESS: Huge investments, small businesses, and local success stories #SmallBizWeek

Infrastructure that lasts beyond a generation is a huge investment. Few often realize it's small businesses that help make it possible.

This week is National Small Business Week, and we join local voices in support of small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses that contribute to our Northeast Ohio economy.

"I’m very proud of the effort the Sewer District has made to engage and attract small businesses," said Tiffany Jordan, Sewer District Manager of Contract Compliance. "Just last year, more than $45 million has been paid to local small businesses, which includes Minority-owned, Women-owned and Small Business Enterprises."

LOOK: Can you be afraid of heights 200 feet underground?

Can you say "Don't look down," when you're already 200 feet below the earth's surface? Based on the photo shown here, um yes.

This is the current state of construction of the Easterly Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station taking shape 240 feet under Bratenahl. Upon completion, this cavern will house enormous pumps capable of drawing more than 160 million gallons of wastewater per day from three of our Easterly plant's four storage tunnels.

The photo was taken from near the location of the star below.

Construction is scheduled to be substantially complete in 2016.

RELATED STORIES:

• PROJECTS: A closer look at the pump station being built under Bratenahl 
• PHOTO: What are all those cranes popping up along I-90?
• LEARN MORE: What is the Euclid Creek Tunnel?
• GREEN: Gray, green, or in between? The story of infrastructure and alternatives

SOURCES: Latest tunnel construction project to be powered by giant hamster wheel. Or not.

Not an Onion headline, just fun with an already great photo.

When our Director of Engineering & Construction Kellie Rotunno tweeted her original pic earlier in the week, posting progress on our enormous Euclid Creek Tunnel project, it got our wheels spinning.

Wholly ring beams batman! Check out this 30 ton form for @neorsd's #ECT which will reduce #CSO from #greatLake Erie. pic.twitter.com/EMof0XwWcf
— Kellie Rotunno (@KellieRotunno) September 8, 2014

In reality, Kellie explained that the 30-ton rebar frame is being lowered into a Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft to connect the shaft with the three-mile tunnel itself. Once in place, the form will be lined with concrete.

We'd need a whole lotta hamsters to power something like a tunnel boring machine, but we are consistently looking for ways to make our Project Clean Lake program smarter and more sustainable.

LIST: 7 ways back-to-school jitters are like treating wastewater

Parents, it’s that time of year again. And we can make a few connections between our work and your kids’ first-day jitters that you might not have expected. Class is in session.

1. Sure maybe it stinks, but where would you be without it?

OK, the end of summer may not stink in the literal sense (wastewater work has plenty of unique literal scents of its own). But while you might not be excited about your first day back, you need it. Same thing with wastewater treatment: You wouldn’t last long without it.

2. Your supplies list tends to be pretty pricey.

As parents, students’ supplies lists seem to make our jaws drop. A $198 million sewer tunnel like the Euclid Creek Tunnel, for example, tends to generate the same response, but when it can store 60 million gallons of water to prevent spilling pollution, it helps put things into perspective.

GREEN: Our Project Clean Lake agreement was groundbreaking, and here are 7 reasons why.

Project Clean Lake was a groundbreaking agreement in 2010 when we signed it, making our 25-year program to reduce pollution in Lake Erie official. A lot has happened in the last four years and our consent decree is still a groundbreaking agreement for the region and clean-water agencies across the country.

Here are seven reasons why.

HISTORY: Why are tunnel boring machines named, and why are they named after women?

Yesterday, our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie—who has been disassembled for more than a month but keeps right on tweeting—received a great question from a follower:

Are all tunnel boring machines named after women? Why?@MomChungtheTBM @BerthaDigsSR99 @BigAlmatheTBM @LadyBirdTBM @MackenzieTBM
— Kimble McCraw (@kimblem) December 12, 2013

With a little help and a link shared by @HMMnews, we were able to find the answer. WNYC's Derek Wang reported earlier this year, covering Seattle's TBM Bertha, that "the tradition and practice of naming tunneling machines dates back to the earliest mining traditions" including devotions to patron saints of safety of underground workers.

LOOK: Mackenzie, now in pieces, awaits a resurrection

It is finished.

Mackenzie—the 1,500-ton tunnel boring machine that once spanned more than three football fields in total length—now rests in hundreds of pieces in the cold December Bratenahl air.

Since finishing her three-mile journey digging the Euclid Creek Tunnel back in August, she has been meticulously disassembled and brought to the surface, cataloged, and placed in storage where she began her journey in 2012, at a site known as Nine Mile Creek.

AWARD: Euclid Creek Tunnel wins International Project of the Year award

We hope Mackenzie's getting her acceptance speech ready.

Our Euclid Creek Tunnel project has earned the Tunnelling Association of Canada's 2013 International Project of the Year Award, and we're honored, says Kellie Rotunno.

“We're very proud of this," said Rotunno, Sewer District Director of Engineering and Construction. "It's our first, single-pass, segmentally lined tunnel, and it is nice to have it recognized as an International success like this."

LOOK: Rock bottom, but the view's better than you'd expect.

It's more than just a hole. There's a whole lot going on down here.

This photo was taken recently from the bottom of the Euclid Creek Tunnel shaft 1 in Bratenahl. The photographer is standing 200 feet below the surface at the location where construction of the tunnel began back in 2012. Here's what that looked like:

Digging wrapped up in August and the Euclid Creek Tunnel is scheduled for completion in 2015.

LOOK: "What are those cranes popping up over the trees along I-90?"

What's all that work along I-90? Click for a larger view. (Image originally posted August 2013)

Seeing underground work from the air gives huge projects a whole new perspective.

When you see our cranes above treetops along I-90, you know work is happening but it's tough to know what that work is. Here's an aerial view of three huge Project Clean Lake projects going on at this location we call Nine Mile Creek in Bratenahl.

Those three projects include the Euclid Creek Tunnel, a Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station, and an electrical substation to power both the work and the resulting infrastructure.

LOOK: Like some kind of futuristic dissection, photos tell the story of @MackenzieTBM's disassembly

Today we received this amazing set of images that show our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie as she continues to be disassembled 200 feet underground.

Last month, the 27-foot-tall Mackenzie finished digging the Euclid Creek Tunnel, a journey that spanned three miles under Cleveland and Lake Erie. The tunnel won't be officially complete until 2015, but Mackenzie has done her job. She's being transported back to Bratenahl in pieces where she began her dig in 2012.

These photos show Mackenzie up close as she is being disassembled piece by enormous piece.

VIDEO: Kids news program Newsdepth goes deep with Mackenzie, how sewers work

Mackenzie dug her way into hundreds of Ohio schools late last month.

After our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie finished digging the 18,000-foot-long Euclid Creek Tunnel in August, she was brought to the surface piece by piece, and a school news program featured her accomplishment in September.

The clip above is from the September 18 Ideastream program Newsdepth, a weekly news program for Ohio students in grades three through eight. Here's the complete half-hour episode.

PIC: A machine designed to dig tunnels is gonna get dirty. Here's how dirty.

When our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie finished digging the Euclid Creek Tunnel late last month, she did so on-line, ahead of schedule, and under budget.

It's likely some of the money she saved will go towards a new paint job.

EVENT: One journey ends, another begins as Mackenzie will make her way back to the surface

 

Mac's on her way back to the surface starting Monday.

More than one year ago, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s tunnel boring machine, named “Mackenzie,” began excavating the Euclid Creek Tunnel. Mackenzie has successfully mined and lined 18,000 feet of 24-foot diameter tunnel 200 feet below ground, and her work is complete ahead of schedule and under budget.

On Monday, September 9, Mackenzie’s 150-ton, 27-foot diameter cutter head will be lifted out of the exit shaft near the intersection of Nottingham Road and St. Clair Avenue. Later that day, the cutter head will return to the main construction site in Bratenahl.

UPDATE: Watch the video of Mac's cutter head returning to the surface in the clip above.

You can #TrackMac's progress Monday by following our @neorsd and @WallyWaterdrop Twitter accounts for live #TrackMac tweets from the site.

VIDEO: Is blasting like surgery? Understanding the safety, precision of controlled explosions

 

We think the comparison works best only in one direction.

If a doctor comes to you and explains his surgery is going to be like an explosion, be anxious. But when a construction manager says an explosion is going to be like surgery, that's different and definitely more comforting.

Lucky for us, Bob's the construction manager, not the surgeon.

We are using controlled blasting to excavate access shafts along our Euclid Creek Tunnel, a major piece of our Project Clean Lake program. This video was shot during a blast last week at our Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cleveland. Bob Auber explains what the shaft does, why blasting is the safest and most economical way to make our way 200 feet underground, and the precision he's seen over 25 years that made him compare the excavation to surgery.

Related: Mackenzie completes her 18,000-foot underground journey

NEWS: Boring hasn't been this exciting for a long time as Mackenzie breaks through

At 1:27 a.m. Wednesday, Mackenzie saw a light she hadn't seen in more than a year.

Mackenzie, the 1,500-ton tunnel boring machine drilling the three-mile-long Euclid Creek Tunnel 200 feet under Cleveland, broke through the shale at shaft 5, marking the end of her boring—but very exciting—journey.

While the tunnel boring machine is finished, the Euclid Creek Tunnel still has much work ahead. The tunnel will not be complete until 2015 as the lining and ongoing preparation is complete. When finished, the Euclid Creek Tunnel—one of seven huge Project Clean Lake tunnels—will hold 60 million gallons of sewage and stormwater and reduce pollution entering Lake Erie.

Phew. #neorsdECT pic.twitter.com/OOMfNRFmJC
— Mackenzie (@MackenzieTBM) August 22, 2013

It's official! @MackenzieTBM has completed her 3 mile journey, 200 ft underground for @neorsd's #euclidcreektunnel pic.twitter.com/UmWtJoI1ca
— Kellie Rotunno (@KellieRotunno) August 22, 2013

Video and details will be added as they become available.

LIST: Top 5 songs for saying goodbye to a 3,000,000-pound tunnel boring machine

Have we really come to the end of the road? Boyz II Men knows how we feel.

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

Our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie has worked her way deep into our hearts as she nears the end of her 18,000-foot road: drilling the Euclid Creek Tunnel 200 feet below Cleveland in an effort to protect our Great Lake from millions of gallons of pollution. She's leaving an amazing legacy behind her as the project nears completion.

How can you really say goodbye to that? She's not done yet, and we'll keep tweeting and updating her status in the coming weeks. But we know it's only a matter of time until the two of us part ways.