Granite Construction Inc. won a $215m contract from the City of Akron, Ohio, for the construction of the Northside Interceptor Tunnel Project (NITP) to prevent combined sewer overflows to the Cuyahoga River in Akron, Ohio, during typical storms.

The funding for this project will come from the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio, and is anticipated to be included in the third-quarter Capital Allocation Plan of Granite.

The NITP is an essential requirement for the mandated 2014 Consent Decree of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that requires Akron to execute a long-term control plan. This includes:

• separating part of combined sewers
• installing ten storage basins and two wastewater storage tunnels to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility
• finishing collection system project

The city's collection system has leaky pipes and connections, and extra water from improper connections enters the sewer system, increasing overflows and resulting in a large amount of water being transferred to the water treatment plant. 

This tunnel project is expected to modernize the city's sewer system and drastically reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in Ohio. 

The primary structure of NITP, located along the Cuyahoga River, is 6,660 linear feet of precast concrete segmental line rock tunnel with a 16.5 ft internal diameter, accommodating both dry and wet weather sewage flow. It will play a critical role in addressing CSOs by collecting overflows at four different locations and storing them up above 10 million gallons, reducing the environmental impacts of CSOs and protecting the health of local waterways.

To enhance the efficiency of the system, the project also includes a variety of control structures, connecting sewers, flow drop shafts, and overflow structures.

Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan stated that the tunnel would treat more than 2.3 billion gallons of water that currently flows back into local waterways untreated and would capture 99% of wet weather flow.

In a press release, the vice president of regional operations for Watsonville, California-based Granite, Jim Nickerson, said, "Spanning 6,660 feet in length and descending over 100 feet below ground into rock, NITP will be a feat of engineering and is set to become a symbol of innovation and environmental stewardship for the entire region." 

He further added, "We have a great working relationship with the City of Akron from the previous Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel Project. The city’s committed to contracting work to local firms, and our contracting plan was able to exceed Akron's local contracting goals and provide major economic benefit to the community."

The project's design phase was finalized in the spring of this year. Following this, there was a pre-qualification round conducted by the City of Akron, and four contractors who submitted their proposals were shortlisted; among them, Granite Construction Company's proposal was selected as the most cost-effective and responsible option.

The Granite Construction company will begin the project in September and anticipates to complete it by July 2027.