Euclid Creek Tunnel project to reduce pollution

The Euclid Creek Tunnel, expected to be complete in 2015, will be 18,000 feet long, 24 feet in diameter and be located 200 feet below ground.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has broken ground on a large construction project that may impact some Collinwood residents. However, this project will impact all of Cleveland’s residents because the project will reduce pollution in our streams and lake, improving our city’s environment.

The Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel is part of a larger network of underground tunnels that are being constructed to considerably reduce combined sewer overflows.

Greater Cleveland’s earliest sewers (primarily within the City and its inner-ring suburbs) are combined sewers. Built around the turn of the 19th century, these sewers carry sewage, industrial waste and stormwater in a single pipe. During heavy rains, there is a dramatic increase of water flowing through the combined sewers. When this happens, control devices may allow some of the combined wastewater and stormwater to overflow into area waterways—such as Lake Erie and Euclid Creek—to prevent urban flooding. This event is called a combined sewer overflow, or CSO, and harms our clean water environment.

Currently, CSOs in the Euclid Creek area overflow more than 60 times a year. When the tunnel is completed, overflows should be reduced to four or less in a typical year of rainfall.

At Euclid Beach State Park on Lake Erie, additional features have been designed to further reduce CSOs. New relief sewers will also be constructed to decrease flooding problems along Lake Shore Boulevard (east of Euclid Creek) and near Holmes Avenue and East 152nd Street.

PROJECT LOCATION & DESCRIPTION

The Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel starts in Bratenahl, south of Interstate 90, and continues northeast to the Sewer District’s Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant. There, the tunnel will continue under Lake Erie for about 3000 feet and pass under the shoreline near Green Creek at East 152nd Street. The tunnel will then head east, following Lake Shore Boulevard and Nottingham Road, and end at St. Clair Avenue (see map).

The Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel will be located 190 to 220 feet below ground. The tunnel will be 18,000 feet long, with a diameter of 24 feet. It will have the capacity to hold 52 million gallons of combined stormwater and wastewater.

In addition to the tunnel, a large mining shaft and four drop shafts will be constructed. The largest shaft – near Nine Mile Creek in Bratenahl – is where most of the project’s work, including most of the excavation, will take place. The four drop shafts will be located at the Sewer District’s Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant; Beulah Park near Lakeshore Boulevard and East 156th Street; Triangle Park near Lakeshore Boulevard, Nottingham Road and East 174th Street; and near the intersection of St. Clair Avenue and Nottingham Road.

NEIGHBORHOOD IMPACT

Tunnels such as these will reduce the number of CSOs each year, ensuring a cleaner environment for you and your Cleveland neighbors. As with any large construction project, there will be some inconveniences, but we will work with Councilmen Eugene Miller and Michael Polensek to notify you of our progress and try to minimize them as much as possible.

Many Collinwood residents have noticed work taking place at several of the aforementioned locations: trees have been cleared, utilities are being relocated, sound walls and fencing is being installed and several buildings have been or will be demolished. Crews will be onsite to set up and install shaft collars which will indicate where the shafts will be excavated.

PROJECT COST & SCHEDULE

The cost of construction for the Euclid Creek Storage Tunnel is $198 million and should be completed by early 2015.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Additional information about the Sewer District is available by contacting Jennifer Elting, Public Information Specialist, at 216.881.6600 or via e-mail at eltingj@neorsd.org.

Jennifer Elting

Jennifer Elting is a Public Information Specialist for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

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Volume 3, Issue 6, Posted 5:31 PM, 08.08.2011