NANCY CREEK TUNNEL 
Report as of July 2, 2002

This is the fourth Report on the above subject. Should you wish to receive the first three, please e-mail me with your request. As before, I am reporting events to the best of my recollection and I will try to differentiate when I am offering an opinion. This Report may not be the position of the Technical Advisory Committee nor the City of Atlanta. 

After the Technical Advisory Committee's inspection of the Chattahoochee Tunnel, I tried to observe surface noise immediately above the face of the Tunnel excavation. Unfortunately, the Tunnel Boring Machine was not working when we emerged. However a few weeks later, I was able to pin-point the location of the TBM and visit the surface while it was working. I could not feel or hear anything. I also talked to the nearest home owner and they were unaware that the TBM was excavating below them. Contrary to my observations, the www.chattahoocheetunnel.com website reports that a few residents could feel the TBM for 2 - 4 days as it passed beneath them. 

On June 17, 2002, the Atlanta City Council authorized the construction contract with Obayashi. A Notice to Proceed was issued on July 1, 2002. To recap, Obayashi will start simultaneously with two TBM's from R. M. Clayton and from Roswell and will bore in a northeasterly direction. In order to launch the TBMs, Obayashi will take 4 - 8 months to blast the access shafts at the Roswell and R M. Clayton sites. During this period, the two TBM's will be transported to Atlanta to begin tunneling. The contract schedule has been extended from 1100 days to 1290 days or October 31, 2005. The EPD Consent Decree deadline was August 31, 2005 but the City has recently been granted an extension to December 31, 2005. 

Four public meetings have been scheduled. These meetings will be attended by Council Members, the City's technical staff and consultants and members of the Technical Advisory Committee. The first meeting will be held on July 23 at Pace Academy on West Paces Ferry Road; the second, on July 25 at the home of the Carpenters located at 2355 Bolton Road; the third, on July 29 at Peachtree Presbyterian Church located at 3434 Roswell Road; and the final meeting will be held on July 31 at the Sandy Springs Christian Church located at 301 Johnson Ferry Road. All meetings will begin at 7:00 PM and will round up at around 9:00 PM. These meetings will provide good general information and there will be people available to answer specific questions after the official presentation. 

Shortly after these meetings, the City will mail easement acquisition letters to affected property owners. To recap, the easement will be twenty-five feet on each side of the Tunnel for a total of fifty feet. 

More Questions and Answers:

Q: The newspaper has reported that the Tunnel has been cancelled. Is this true?

A: The City is looking at the viability of constructing two more deep tunnels in areas of the City where Combined Sewers (CS) are prevalent. It has been speculated that one of these Tunnel projects may be cancelled and handled in a different fashion. The Nancy Creek Tunnel is not affected by this and will proceed.

Q: The paper also reported that a new oversight committee has been established. Has your Technical Advisory Committee been disbanded?