Look Ahead
The Metropolitan Water Tunnel Program is currently at the very early stages of planning and design. The organizational framework to manage the Program within the MWRA is in place in the form of the Tunnel Redundancy Department. MWRA has procured initial consultant contracts for Program Support Services and Preliminary Engineering.
It is expected that the next several years will include a number of Program wide activities including risk management planning, quality management planning, design criteria and standardization, project controls, construction package planning, field investigation procedures, critical path scheduling and budget planning.
City of Newton City Engineer Louis M. Taverna visits MWTP test
boring/rock coring site in Newton, Massachusetts, July, 2021
The Preliminary Design Phase of the Tunnel Program involves significant efforts on geotechnical investigations, preliminary route and shaft site alternative evaluations, preliminary design, an assessment of environmental permits needed and preparation of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review for the Program. This phase of the Program will initiate actual design. Preliminary design is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2023. It is envisioned that final design(s) will follow soon after preliminary design with the first tunnel construction package issued in or around 2027.