East Side Big Pipe Projects

^{The City of Portland broke ground on the East Side Big Pipe projects in 2006. It is the largest sewer construction project in Portland history. The $464 million East Side Big Pipe is the last in a series of projects dating back to 1991 to control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Columbia Slough and Willamette River.}

^{The joint venture Kiewit-Bilfinger Berger (KBB) is the city's contractor on the East Side Big Pipe Project. KBB is using a 300-foot long tunnel boring machine with a 25-foot diameter cutter head to construct the 6-mile long tunnel. The tunnel will parallel the east bank of the Willamette River from SE 17th and McLoughlin to Swan Island at an average depth of 150 feet. The interior of the finished East Side Big Pipe will be 22 feet in diameter.}

^{The machine began mining in June 2007 at the Opera Shaft near the Portland Opera Building on SE Water Avenue, which is also the East Side Big Pipe Project construction headquarters. The project includes construction of the seven tunnel access shafts, new connecting pipelines and the Portsmouth Force Main, which will convey sewage from the Swan Island Pump Station to the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant.}

^{Click here for more information about the East Side Big Pipe Project.}