WASHINGTON 鈥� She鈥檚 a big, football-field-and-a-half long dirt-eating machine and now she鈥檚 coming to surface.
Lady Bird has spent the past two years digging a four-mile-long tunnel underneath the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, from the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Center north to DC Water鈥檚 Main Pumping Station in Southeast聽D.C.
It鈥檚 all part of the DC Water鈥檚 Clean Rivers Project, which aims to reduce pollution in the Anacostia River by 98 percent.
A crane pulled out the 26-foot wide cutterhead from the newly dug tunnel, just down the street from Nationals Park Thursday morning.聽 Crews will continue pulling out segments of the digging machine until is all removed.
鈥淭his is a terrific milestone for DC Water鈥檚 Clean Rivers Project,鈥� said DC Water CEO and General Manager George S. Hawkins. 鈥淲e are fortunate that the tunneling went so smoothly, finishing on time and on budget.鈥�
Lady Bird dug and constructed a roughly 23-foot diameter tunnel about 100 feet beneath the Anacostia River. It will carry wastewater down to the Blue Plans Advanced Wastewater Treatment Center to be treated and then returned to the Potomac River.
The tunnel is both wider and deeper than the Metro tunnels.
