Wednesday, December 23, 2015

WBJ: "D.C. Water completes First Street Tunnel, with flood relief for Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park residents"

Click on the link to read the entire Washington Business Journal article:



Real Estate Inc.
D.C. Water completes First Street Tunnel, with flood relief for Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park residents
Dec 23, 2015, 2:45pm EST
Daniel J. Sernovitz, Staff Reporter
Washington Business Journal

Taking five months to travel 2,700 feet might seem like an excruciatingly slow journey, tantamount to taking a trip during peak travel times via I-95 for the holidays, but it's actually cause for celebration at the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority.

The journey took place roughly 100 feet below ground, and the traveler was Lucy, a 1,582-ton tunnel boring machine named in honor of Lucy Diggs Slowe, the first dean of women at Howard University. She is one of the leading ladies in D.C. Water 's $2.6 billion D.C. Clean Rivers Project, which I highlighted back in February before Lucy was christened and lowered underground to dig the first of 500 million pounds of sand, silt and clay beneath First Street.

It might not seem all that glamorous, but the initiative is a key part of D.C.'s future; ensuring D.C. Water has the capacity to handle additional development projects in the future, keeping sewage water out of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and providing relief to flood-prone neighborhoods like Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park.  Lucy's First Street Tunnel will be a vital link in a 13-mile system expected to take some two decades to complete.
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3 comments:

Bloomingdale.Rowhouse said...

Not soon enough... Unfortunately my basement flooded this afternoon! :(

Daniel in brookland said...

Flooding, and sewer drain back ups, probably caused by DC Water. They never clean out the storm drains. The storm drains are always packed with garbage, leaves, bottles and other debris. This agency has a responsibility to keep the storm drains cleaned out, which they never do. Have you ever seen DC Water clean out the bottles and cans, food, and leaves blocking the storm drains on every block in the city? An agency too busy with $2.6 billion tunnels boring to do their job properly. Last week on 16th and K st NW, on K, I watched a parade of rats run down the curb, and dive right into the storm drain. Must be party for rats down there.
Hey Hawkins how much tons of carbon emissions does your 1500 ton Lucy Slowe machine produce? How many millions of tons of carbon emissions, will VMP Monstrosity polluite our neighborhoods to build?

TheCommiss said...

If your basement flooded..question is do you have a backwater valve? The ANC and DC water have provided a fund for these to be install, so if that was the issue it's got nothing to Do with DC water. Second, DC spent $150 Million to help with water runoff issues in Bloomingdale that has flooded for over 100 years. It's a know issue in the area. That's a due diligence issue on your apart. finally DC Water has been working on the tunnel project for years and for a project this size they have managed it quite well. As for the carbon emission from Lucy... well worth it for now that raw sewage that seems to keep coming out of Mr. Wolkoff's residence and his mouth will now be treated...so I'd say worth every bit of carbon.