ALCOSAN Breaks Ground on 4.9-Mile Ohio River Tunnel to Cut Sewer Overflows

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority broke ground on the 4.9-mile Ohio River Tunnel in Pittsburgh, a project designed to reduce regional sewer overflows by 7 billion gallons per year. Yahoo reported the groundbreaking. ALCOSAN is the wastewater authority serving Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County communities.

ALCOSAN's Ohio River Tunnel and the Clean Water Plan

The tunnel is the first component of ALCOSAN's Regional Tunnel System, an underground network designed to capture excess wastewater during wet weather and transport it to a central facility for treatment. The 4.9-mile main tunnel will run from Pittsburgh's North Shore to ALCOSAN's wastewater treatment plant, with smaller connecting tunnels linking to the main line to capture flows from the Saw Mill Run and Chartiers Creek areas. Work will take place across eight construction sites, including six within Pittsburgh and two in McKees Rocks.

The project forms a central part of the authority's Clean Water Plan, which integrates treatment plant expansion, regionalization and green infrastructure through its GROW program. ALCOSAN recently reached a treatment capacity of 480 million gallons per day, satisfying a compliance target under a federal Consent Decree, and authority officials expect the expanded daily capacity to reduce an additional 3.4 billion gallons of sewer overflows annually.

"This groundbreaking is more than the start to construction," ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Scott Williams said during the groundbreaking ceremony at the AS1 construction site. "Arriving at this day required grit, determination and commitment from countless people."

Contractor Steel City Tunnel Partners will begin drilling the first access shafts at the construction site, preparing the location for the arrival of a Tunnel Boring Machine scheduled late next year.

Water and Waste Infrastructure Work Elsewhere

LCC Projects secured a ₹151.57 crore EPC water supply order from the Gujarat government to transport water from Machhu-I Dam to Triveni Thanga Reservoir and nearby villages, CNBCTV18 reported on October 16, 2026. The contract includes 10 years of operation and maintenance, with construction scheduled for 24 months.

ET, an Atlanta-based design-build firm, was awarded a design-build project to develop a waste hauling facility for Casella Waste Systems in Moreau, New York, EIN Presswire reported on October 20, 2026. The 23-acre greenfield site will support Casella's Fort Edward hauling division, with construction expected to begin in spring 2027 and the facility to open in early 2028.

What Comes Next for the Ohio River Tunnel

Drilling of the first access shafts by Steel City Tunnel Partners begins at the construction site. The Tunnel Boring Machine is scheduled to arrive late next year, according to the authority's announcement on its website.