The Metropolitan Sewer District is installing 28 miles of tunnels, from four to 30 feet in diameter in St. Louis, and around August 2016, MSD will bore a tunnel under Brentwood Boulevard at Russell Avenue, then run a 25-foot-deep tunnel down the length of Russell.
MSD presented the plan, called Project Clear, at Brentwood Public Works Wednesday.
The tunnel can be installed by boring, chipping or blasting. Because of the depth, it will be under the soil, and into the rock layer. Phase 1 of the project, in Brentwood, could take from six to 14 months.
Boring is the quickest method, but more expensive than chipping or blasting. The committee members agreed that blasting is preferred over chipping on Russell because it’s faster, and chipping “would drive people crazy,” Alderman Keith Robertson said.
City Administrator Bola Akande said the city also prefers blasting over chipping. She said the board of aldermen will discuss it at the next meeting, and there will also be a public meeting. If blasting is chosen, seismographs will be used to determine the effect on nearby houses. Alderman Andy Leahy said he’d also like there to be visual inspections of basement walls.
Correction: This article previously stated the work in Brentwood will begin this August, which is incorrect. It will be in 2016.
Other committee action
The committee took no action on Leahy’s proposal to decrease the total number of dogs and cats allowed in a household. It’s currently at “no more than 3 dogs or a combination of 6 dogs and cats as long as there are not more than 3 dogs”.
Leahy wanted to make the total number four, not six. He referenced a household that had many more than four, six years ago.
Alderwoman Cindy Manestar asked if someone currently has more than four, would it take a complaint from a neighbor for the ordinance to be enforced. Akande said yes, which she said is similar to many city ordinances.
Both Robertson and Manestar said the city has no business telling them how many pets to have. Robertson said he currently has five. No action was taken so the number will remain at six.
There will not be any work on Russell this year.
Thanks Keith, the article has been corrected.
While boring may be more expensive. it is the ONLY option that will not disrupt activities at the park or damage people’s homes. I sincerely hope the board will refuse to allow MSD to chip or blast on Russell.
That’s a very important question. Maddenfest is the most important thing to the social lives of Brentwood residents. Hopefully 40 South will pose this question to the BOA very soon.
Yeah……that’s far more important than shock waves from underground explosions undermining damaging the homes of the residents in that area.
What will this do to Maddenfest in September? New location?