MSD drilling tons of rock under Ohio River for Waterway Protection Project

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A massive machine is making progress in digging a four-mile tunnel under the Ohio River.

On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Sewer District showed how a huge boring machine has carved out thousands of pounds of dirt for the Waterway Protection Tunnel Project. The tunnel will eventually be used to store storm and wastewater during heavy rain events.

The boring machine is called "Bumblebee" in honor of Muhammad Ali. It is currently under the Ohio River near 10th Street, and it will continue moving east from downtown Louisville as it makes its way to Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive.

MSD's giant drill carving massive tunnel dubbed 'Bumblebee' to honor Ali

Railroad cars are placed along tracks underground collecting rock that's loaded into "muck cars" that are pulled back to 12th Street. The rock is dumped by a crane above the ground and hauled to a rock quarry, before the muck cars head back underground.

Ultimately, the four-mile tunnel will store up to 55 million gallons of storm and waste water. The tunnel is designed to prevent wastewater and stormwater from overflowing into Beargrass Creek and the Ohio River. When it rains in Louisville, the system can get overwhelmed and spill sewage into local waterways.

MSD's project manager Jacob Mathis says this is an essential resource for the health of the Ohio River.

"This project is very important for the community, as it provides many health benefits. It provides clean, safe waterways that we use for recreation and fishing purposes. A lot of things take place in the river that we're proud of," he says.

MSD starts digging massive tunnel 18 stories underground

MSD says once that storm and waste water is collected underground, it is treated and returned to the Ohio River.

The $200 million Waterway Protection Project will take about a year, and MSD says the tunnel will be in operation in 2020.

It’s a problem many cities across the country are experiencing with antiquated sewer systems. So the federal government issued a consent decree, which is based on the Clean Water Act of 1972. Louisville must meet the federal requirements by 2020.

The Waterway Protection Tunnel is expected to exceed the requirements by creating more overflow storage space than originally planned. The first design was for a tunnel 2.5 miles long, but MSD decided to add another 1.5 miles. So it will start with the pump station at 12th and Rowan Streets and extend to the intersection of Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive.