Metro Vancouver is marking a milestone in a mega-project that most people will never see.
Metro Vancouver says it has completed the tunnelling phase of the Annacis Water Supply Tunnel, which is a project that will increase the capacity to deliver drinking water to communities south of the Fraser River.
The new 2.3-kilometre tunnel is about 50 metres below the Fraser River and runs between New Westminster and Surrey, just north of Annacis Island.
A tunnel-boring machine, nicknamed Anna, dug the tunnel from south to north.
“This work is necessary,” Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said.
“It’s not ‘nice to have work’. It’s ‘must have work’. Serves the needs of the region and to make sure we have the most reliable infrastructure.”
The tunnel is designed to withstand a one-in-10,000-year earthquake, or a magnitude 9 earthquake.
The budget for the project is $450 million.
Metro Vancouver says that so far, the project is on time and on budget. The tunnel is expected to be completed and hooked up to the water supply system by 2028.
The Annacis Tunnel is one of five under-river water tunnels Metro Vancouver is building to replace aging supply lines. The five crossings are budgeted at $2 billion.