A “friendly giant” Tunnel Boring Machine, measuring 1.8m in diameter, recently arrived in Meadow Lane Portadown for use on a key £7.8 million NI Water wastewater network upgrade.
The machine will help reduce disruption by tunnelling around 385m of the new sewer underground; by employing innovative trenchless (underground) pipelaying techniques, the contractor BSG can install the new larger diameter sewer without any impact to motorists or pedestrians in the Meadow Lane area of Portadown.
Only when the TBM machine needs to be relocated or removed and when pipe connections have to be made will traffic management arrangements be implemented.
At the centre of this major NI Water investment is the construction of a new wastewater pumping station which includes a 20m diameter underground storage tank capable of holding 1.5 million litres of stormwater.
This critical new wastewater infrastructure will support economic growth and future development in the area and deliver important environmental benefits for the community including reduced risk of out-of-sewer flooding and improved water quality in local watercourses through the closure of storm overflows.
