Frontier-Kemper Constructors has secured a contract worth around $1.1bn from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) for the Kensico-Eastview Connection (KEC) tunnel project in the US.
The $1.9bn water tunnel project involves the development of a new 3.2km-long deep rock tunnel between the Kensico Reservoir and the Catskill/Delaware Ultraviolet (CDUV) light disinfection facility in Westchester County.
It will provide an additional means of transporting water between the two locations, bolstering operational resilience and redundancy for the state’s water supply system that serves over nine million people.
The NYC DEP’s proposed tunnel will be located approximately 500ft below ground.
Frontier-Kemper Constructors, which is a subsidiary of speciality construction company Tutor Perini, expects to commence the Kensico-Eastview Connection tunnel project work in the coming months.
Completion of the work is anticipated by the end of this decade.
The contract value for the water tunnel project has been added to Tutor Perini’s backlog for Q3 2024.
Located within Mount Pleasant, the Kensico-Eastview Connection project also comprises two distinct project sites, namely the Kensico Campus and the KEC Eastview Site.
As part of the project, two new shafts will be constructed to facilitate the tunnel’s construction and water conveyance.
The downtake shaft, KEC Shaft 1C, will be located at the Kensico Campus near the KEC Screen Chamber, while the uptake shaft, KEC Shaft 2C, will be situated at the Eastview Site’s Eastview Connection Chamber (ECC).
A tunnel boring machine (TBM) will be used to construct the KEC Tunnel, starting from the KEC Eastview Site and advancing eastward towards the Kensico Campus, where it will connect with KEC Shaft 1C.
The completed tunnel will have an inner diameter of approximately 27ft and will be lined with at least 1.5ft of cast-in-place concrete along its entire length.
Upon its completion, the Kensico-Eastview Connection project will increase the flow of water to the CDUV facility and enhance the DEP’s ability to maintain normal operating levels at Hillview Reservoir during single-basin operations.
The final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the project was issued in August 2023.
The NYC DEP started construction on the Kensico-Eastview Connection tunnel project in July this year.
