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Thomarios/City of Akron photo
The city worked closely with officials to reduce environmental impact to the park’s natural features by optimizing design of the project to reduce tree clearing and impact to key features.
By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
Construction crews in Ohio are tackling a multi-year sewer project that involves building a 16.5-ft. internal diameter tunnel. Work on the city of Akron’s $215 million Northside Interceptor Tunnel (NSIT) assignment began in fall of 2023. “The tunnel will reduce combined sewer overflows to the Cuyahoga River, which will improve water quality in Akron,” said city of Akron senior engineer Heather Ullinger. “This benefits the local community and the adjacent and downstream communities, including Cuyahoga Falls, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland and Lake Erie. “The improvements made by the Akron Waterways Renewed Program have dramatically improved water quality for our region. The tunnel also will replace a major portion of the city’s Northside Interceptor sewer, which was built more than 100 years ago.”
The NSIT undertaking is one of the final projects of the EPA-mandated consent decree, entered in 2014, to improve the city’s sewer infrastructure and reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The tunnel will collect and store CSOs from four overflow locations. It will be 6,660 ft. long, more than 100 ft. below ground in rock and will be able to store more than 10 million gal. of combined flow. The design for the tunnel was completed in early 2023. “The most detailed element is the tunnel diversion structure [TDS],” Ullinger said. “This is the heart of the project. It’s the downstream end of the mainline tunnel and receives flow from the Rack 32 consolidation sewer. The TDS conveys dry weather and typical year flows to the existing interceptor sewer to dewater the tunnel. It includes floatable screening and baffle drops to slow flows.” Because of the deadlines set in the federally-mandated decree, the project schedule is aggressive. “From a construction standpoint, the project involves about 2,500 feet of a soft ground tunnel,” said Ullinger.
“Access to the shaft location and geotechnical conditions for this consolidation sewer are challenging. This is happening right alongside another major, multi-stage project, the Gorge Dam removal. Coordinating the two requires daily communication and teamwork.” To determine underground conditions, officials implemented an extensive geotechnical program which started in 2020. Currently, crews are preparing the site by stripping topsoil and grading in the area of the TDS. Tree removal is complete and utility relocation continues. No blasting is anticipated; however, to reduce the impact of the project, the city of Akron decided to keep all spoils from tunneling and other earthwork on-site permanently. “This requires a sophisticated work plan for the project’s main staging area to ensure there’s enough room for the stored materials and day-to-day operations. The project is occurring in a Summit Metro Park, with beautiful views of the Cuyahoga River.” see NSIT page 6