en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) in Pennsylvania, USA, announced that it has awarded a $1 billion construction contract for the Ohio River Tunnel project to a 50:50 joint venture, "Steel City Tunnel Partners," formed by Lane Construction Corporation, a US subsidiary of Italy's Webuild Group, and local firm Brayman Construction Corporation. This tunnel is the first project to be launched among the three major deep storage and drainage tunnel systems under ALCOSAN's "Clean Water Plan" and represents the most critical engineering component to address combined sewer overflow pollution, as required by a 2008 federal consent decree.

Established in 1946, ALCOSAN provides wastewater collection and treatment services to nearly 900,000 residents across 83 municipalities in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area, with a treatment plant capacity of 295 million gallons per day. Amid severe combined sewer overflows (where stormwater mixes with domestic sewage and overflows, polluting three rivers), ALCOSAN has been under federal consent decree oversight since 2008, planning a total investment of approximately $4.5 billion to advance the "Clean Water Plan," with tunnels, pump station upgrades, and regionalization of the pipeline network as key pillars. The Ohio River Tunnel, located at depths of 36 to 45 meters underground and approximately 8 kilometers long, consists of a main tunnel about 6 kilometers long with a diameter exceeding 5 meters (equipped with a new tunnel boring machine) and two branch tunnels at Chartiers Creek and Saw Mill Run. It will function as an "underground river" to temporarily store combined sewer overflows, which will be pumped for treatment once the plant has capacity. Upon completion, the system will capture approximately 7 billion gallons of overflow wastewater annually, significantly reducing the frequency and volume of untreated sewage discharged directly into the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers.

Lane Construction Corporation is a wholly owned US subsidiary of Italy's international engineering firm Webuild. Webuild employs approximately 95,000 people globally, operates in nearly 50 countries, and specializes in hydraulic tunnels and large-scale complex infrastructure. Lane has completed over 100 miles of hydraulic tunnels in the US, with a portfolio including notable projects such as the Northeast Boundary Tunnel and Anacostia River Tunnel in Washington, D.C., and the Palisades Tunnel in New Jersey. Brayman Construction Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has nearly 80 years of experience in geotechnical and heavy civil construction and has participated in numerous large-scale local infrastructure projects. The joint venture plans to begin construction this summer, with a project duration of approximately five years. Subsequently, the Allegheny River Tunnel and Monongahela River Tunnel will be built, gradually forming a regional deep tunnel network totaling about 16 miles, achieving long-term environmental compliance and aquatic ecosystem restoration.

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