Italian construction and civil engineering company Webuild Group’s U.S. subsidiary, Lane Construction Corporation, has begun excavating a 2.7-mile, 18.1-feet diameter water storage tunnel in Seattle. The $570 million undertaking is titled the Ship Canal Water Quality Project, an environmental sustainability project that aims to prevent untreated stormwater and sewage from infiltrating major bodies of water in the region. 

The tunnel will prevent up to 75 million gallons of contaminated water, known as combined sewer overflow, from flowing into the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Salmon Bay, and Lake Union every year. In addition, the tunnel will capture and temporarily hold more than 29 million gallons of stormwater and sewage during heavy rainfall. 

The tunnel boring machine that is excavating the tunnel has recently been assigned its name following an online vote launched by Seattle Public Utilities. The overwhelming winner was MudHoney, which accrued more than 76% of the vote. Other finalists included Daphne, Molly the Mole, Boris the Plunger, and Sir Digs-A-Lot. The winning MudHoney name comes from the grunge rock band Mudhoney that was formed in Seattle in the late 80s. 

Video: Lane Construction Corporation YouTube channel.

The machine arrived in pieces from its German manufacturer, and in April, its parts were lowered by crane into an 107-feet deep, 80-foot diameter shaft in Ballard. This is home to the western end of the tunnel and above-ground facilities supporting the tunnel. MudHoney will start at this site and move toward Fremont and Wallingford. 

This project is one of several being developed by Lane in the clean water sector in the United States. Others include the Caloosahatchee basin storage reservoir that will reduce harmful discharges into an estuary in Florida and the Three Rivers Protection & Overflow Reduction Tunnel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

The Ship Canal Water Quality Project is expected to be completed by 2025.