Dig Greenville blasting to start Monday
May 21, 2018
After months of planning and numerous weeks of site work, blasting will start for the Dig Greenville project this Monday, May 21, near the intersection of Westfield and Riley streets.
The blasting is scheduled to take place during daytime hours between noon and 2 p.m. The schedule will vary, but will happen one to three times per week for the next three months as crews dig down approximately 100 feet. Blasts are expected to last just a few seconds each time. Local residents have been notified of the anticipated blasting schedule.
The blasting is being done to create one of the access points for the gravity sewer tunnel that is being built under downtown Greenville, from Westfield Street to just outside the Greenville Zoo as part of Dig Greenville.
Dig Greenville is the largest ever underground tunnel project in Greenville history and is a wastewater conveyance project that will feature a roughly one-mile long gravity sewer tunnel that will be 100 feet below ground spanning.
The current system for the Reedy River Basin, which affects downtown Greenville all the way to Travelers Rest, is nearing capacity. If nothing is done, economic development would grind to a halt because nothing could be added to the sewer lines. This project will be able to handle the basin’s needs for the next 100 years.
While the project is a long-term fix, Dig Greenville also will be meeting immediate needs by providing an increased buffer against sewer surcharges due to inflow and infiltration during rain events.
Renewable Water Resources, the region’s largest sewer agency has contracted Black & Veatch to serve as construction management on the project. Super Excavators and C.M.C. are the tunnel contractors on the project.
Actual drilling of the tunnel won’t start until early 2019 with the final project finishing up by mid-2020. The tunnel will be approximately 6,000 feet long, and will house a seven-foot diameter fiberglass reinforced carrier pipe to convey peak wet-weather flows.
About Dig Greenville
Dig Greenville is ReWa’s largest wastewater conveyance project that will address some of the county’s 100-year sewage needs. It will feature a gravity sewer tunnel, 100 feet below ground, 11 feet in diameter, spanning from Westfield Street to Cleveland Park in Downtown Greenville. This unique project will serve the downtown area up into the northern part of the county. Please contact the Dig Greenville hotline at 1-877-897-1987 for project inquiries. For Dig Greenville email updates, please sign up on the website, www.diggreenville.org.
