Earlier in June, the Ship Canal Water Quality Project really got started in Fremont. At the work site at the bend of Leary Way (at 2nd Ave NW & N 39th St), an 8-foot conveyance tunnel boring machine (TBM) arrived to begin digging to Queen Anne, under the Ship Canal.
This is part of the project to divert gallons of polluted water and sewage from entering the public waterways of the Canal and Lake Union. The tunnel being created will connect the Queen Anne wastewater basin to the elongated storage tunnel being created beneath Fremont from Ballard to Wallingford.
Meanwhile, an 18-ft TBM, named MudHoney, is being assembled in Ballard for launch. MudHoney will dig the storage tunnel starting this summer, to arrive at the finish work site at Interlake Ave in East Fremont/Wallingford. As preparation for this intensive work project, crews have begun working extended shifts at the Ballard site, south of Shilshole Ave NW near 24th Ave NW. Work is also intensifying at the East Ballard site, at 11th Ave NW & NW 45th St, which will increase detours for both vehicles and bicycles.
The Ship Canal Water Quality Project will increase its impacts on our neighborhood over the next year, and it is important for everyone to be aware of what those impacts might be – and how important it is for our environment’s health that this work is being done!
Read about the Ship Canal Water Quality project on the official website (click here.) For answers to specific questions, or leave comment, contact SPU_ShipCanalProject@seattle.gov or 206/701-0233