MSD Ohio River Tunnel
CONTRACTOR: JF Shea Construction
PROJECT OWNER: Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District
LOCATION: LOUISVILLE, KY
BUDGET: $ 132 MILLION
COMPLETION: ONGOING
The Integrated Overflow Abatement Plan is the Metropolitan Sewer District’s (MSD) long term plan to improve water quality in Beargrass Creek and the Ohio River within Jefferson County by controlling CSOs and eliminating SSOs from MSD’s system. The solution was a 4-mile-long tunnel that ran 200 feet under the Ohio River with a storage capacity of 55 million gallons. This engineering feat could not be accomplished with drop shafts that were as deep as the tunnel itself.
Cornerstone provided design, construction administration, and special inspection services for structures at six drop shaft locations along the length of the Ohio River Tunnel. These structures include vortex chambers, gate structures, and approach channels. Due to the depth of the structures and the locations being close to the Ohio River, they had to be designed for very large hydrostatic and lateral earth pressures. Despite this, Cornerstone was able to provide an economical solution that met all the requirements for the drop shaft structures.
Cornerstone has an ongoing contract for Construction Administration and Special Inspections for this project to ensure that the construction is done according to the contract documents.
