Market Experience
Kiewit has been a leader in the construction of underground facilities for more than 50 years. Our core staff of more than 100 full-time underground professionals has constructed some of the country's most challenging and impressive underground transportation, power, environmental and mine development projects. These involved drill/blast excavation; machine tunneling in hard rock and soft ground; deep shafts, chambers and caverns; and large open-cut structures.
Our underground projects are without boundaries. From the Southwestern desert to the frigid Alaskan wilderness, across the Rockies and the Appalachian foothills and into Puerto Rico, Kiewit has delivered more than $3 billion in underground-related contracts over the last 15 years.
Completing the longest micro-tunnel drive in North American history, a Kiewit-led joint venture is constructing Phase 2 of the $368 million Portland Combined Sewer Overflow project. Work includes excavation and lining of a 22-foot-diameter tunnel constructed 85 to 165 feet below ground and seven separate shafts located along the alignment.
Due to the long history of rockslides and land slippage, Kiewit Pacific Co. is constructing twin tunnels to bypass the Devil’s Slide portion of Route 1, so motorists can avoid these major slide areas. Using the New Austrian Tunneling Method, which relies on inherent rock strength for support, crews will construct the tunnels through granitic, sandstone and shale formations. The tunnels will be about 4,100 feet long, 30 feet wide, 22 feet high and 60 feet apart.
Due to damage caused by sediment as well as security concerns, the City is relocating water conveyance conduits below ground. Kiewit Pacific Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, is constructing the Sandy River Conduit Relocation project. This design-build project involves taking the two existing above ground conduits and placing them in a 441-linear-foot tunnel under the Sandy River.
The $85.2 million Harlem River Tunnel project includes two 165-foot-deep circular shafts connected by a 675-foot-long horseshoe tunnel. Bedrock in this part of Manhattan is white marble and found at a depth of about 70 feet below grade.
As the largest project ever awarded by the Georgia Water & Sewer Authority of Cobb County, the $114 million Chattahoochee Tunnel, located just northwest of Atlanta, will supplement the current sewage system. The scope of work includes excavating a 49,600-ft.-long tunnel 100- to 350-ft deep, excavating two construction shafts and a pump station, and constructing four intake structures.
The new passenger tunnel at Dulles International Airport allows travelers to move more efficiently through the fast-growing airport. Kiewit Construction Company excavated the tunnel under a live taxiway using New Austrian Tunneling Method. The completed tunnel is lined with PVC waterproofing and reinforced cast-in-place concrete and is equipped with escalators and moving walkways.