October 2003

North Buckhead Newsletter

Page 13

(Continued from page 12)

pected.   There was some water in the tunnel, not running water, but water standing in puddles which had mostly dripped down the sides of the vertical tunnel entrance shaft.  We had seen this kind of seepage before when we descended into the tunnel shaft at the RM Clayton plant near the Chattahoochee River.  The seepage occurs where the soil above meets the solid rock, about 50 feet down -- ground water in the soil seeps through the joints in the vertical shaft's concrete liner and then drips down below. 

Being in the tunnel is a unique experience.  The ventilation system is quite noisy.  It was a very strange feeling to walk the length of a football field under the Blue Heron Nature Preserve, crossing under Nancy Creek.

As we left the site, the first component of the "tunnel boring machine" (TBM) was being lowered.  This 89,000 pound main beam will be a central component of the TBM.  When the TBM starts boring in September, it will cut a smooth 18-foot hole through the solid rock at the rate of 70 to 80 feet per day. 

After a year of boring the TBM will be over in DeKalb County, where it will be removed.  Then the tunnel will be lined with a 12-inch layer of concrete, reducing its final diameter to 16-feet and making it even more water-tight.

After our visit, we got more information about the construction of a small feeder tunnel which will be blasted from the main tunnel, under Roswell Road, to the Lakemoore/Roswell intersection, by the lake.  This tunnel will be constructed without any surface blasting.  Lakemoore at Roswell will be closed for

several weeks in the summer of 2004 to permit drilling of a small shaft from this small tunnel to the surface in the grassy area between the lake and the intersection.  This small shaft will be used to drop "flow" from the existing sewer on Lakemoore down to the tunnel, once the main tunnel is completed.  We will provide more details about this part of the project when they are available.
                                                        -- Gordon Certain

Atlanta Police Department's Zone Two's Crime Prevention Unit is collecting gifts for the Toys for Tots program and will deliver them to needy families in Zone Two.  Donations may be dropped off at the main precinct office, 3120 Maple Drive.  Gifts should be new and unwrapped, for ages 1 to 16.  You may drop them off between now and December 21.  If you know of a family in need, please let them know. 

Contact Christina Walker or Marilyn Thornton at 404-609-7211

We don't have anything to report at this time. 

Please stay tuned.  Watch our web site and emails.