Today, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority awarded the largest of seven Braintree/Weymouth contracts to construct new sewerage facilities that will also serve residents of Hingham, Holbrook, Randolph and Quincy.

The $73 million contract, awarded to the Modern Continental Construction Company of Cambridge, provides for the construction of a 2.8 mile-long, 11.5 foot diameter, deep rock tunnel stretching from the Fore River Ship Yard to the Inter-Island Tunnel at Nut Island in Quincy. The project is the centerpiece of a $150 million relief sewer project that has been in the planning stages for two decades.

Construction of the tunnel is expected to start in late June and be completed in 2002. The tunnel will be mined at depths in excess of 200 feet. In addition to supporting a new 42-inch wastewater pipe, the tunnel will also contain two 14-inch diameter sludge lines running from Nut Island to MWRA's fertilizer plant at Fore River, which will eliminate the barging of sludge across Boston Harbor; two 12-inch pipes to transport wastewater from the fertilizer plant to the tunnel, eliminating two million gallons of wastewater per day from the local Quincy sewer system; and a 12-inch water pipe from the fertilizer plant to support a new Intermediate Pump station on Sithe Energy property in North Weymouth.

"There has been tremendous development and population growth on the South Shore without the corresponding sewerage infrastructure to handle it," said MWRA Executive Director Douglas B. MacDonald. "This project has been needed for a very long time for the betterment of public health and the environment. We are pleased to see it finally move into the construction stage."

MacDonald noted that the existing MWRA sewer line was constructed in the 1930s and that, while the new MWRA relief sewer will add needed capacity to the system, local communities need to fix or upgrade their own systems for the project to be a total success.

The entire Braintree/Weymouth Relief Facilities Project includes the construction of the tunnel, a new Intermediate Pump Station, replacement of the existing Braintree/Weymouth Pump Station in Quincy, construction of a new relief sewer interceptor and siphons as well as rehabilitation of the existing Braintree/Weymouth Sewer.

With the exception of the replacement Pump Station, all of the construction will be completed by the end of 2002.