The Daily Dig
Steel City Tunnel Partners, a joint venture of Lane Construction and Brayman Construction, has been awarded a $1 billion contract to build the Ohio River Tunnel in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The client is ALCOSAN, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.
Lane, the U.S. arm of Italian contractor Webuild Group and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, will lead project management and major tunneling operations. Pittsburgh-based Brayman will handle heavy civil and shaft construction. The final design of the main tunnel is already complete.
The scope covers approximately 4.9 miles of deep tunnel, multiple shafts, regulator structures, and associated near-surface facilities. The system is built to capture combined sewer flows, which carry both sanitary wastewater and stormwater through shared pipes, and route them for treatment during wet weather events. Once complete, it is projected to cut combined sewer overflows into regional waterways by roughly 7 billion gallons annually.
This is the first of three tunnel projects planned under ALCOSAN's Clean Water Plan. The program also includes the Allegheny River Tunnel and the Monongahela River Tunnel, along with an expansion of the North End treatment plant. A 2025 consulting engineer's report from Hatch puts the total program cost at approximately $4.5 billion.
Snapshot:
Project: Ohio River Tunnel
Client/Owner: Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN)
JV Name: Steel City Tunnel Partners
Contractors: Lane Construction (project management, tunneling) and Brayman Construction (heavy civil, shaft construction)
Lane Parent Company: Webuild Group (Italy)
Contract Value: $1 billion
Location: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Tunnel Length: Approximately 4.9 miles
Scope: Deep tunnel, multiple shafts, regulator structures, near-surface facilities
Purpose: Capture and convey combined sewer overflows for treatment
Environmental Impact: Reduces sewer overflows into regional waterways by approximately 7 billion gallons annually
Design Status: Final design of main tunnel complete
Program: ALCOSAN Clean Water Plan
Total Program Value: Approximately $4.5 billion
Additional Program Elements: Allegheny River Tunnel, Monongahela River Tunnel, North End plant expansion
Project Status: Award announced June 2026
TheJobWalk Thoughts
The Ohio River Tunnel is the first of three tunnel projects under ALCOSAN's roughly $4.5 billion Clean Water Plan, with the Allegheny River Tunnel and Monongahela River Tunnel still to be built. Subs and suppliers who want a position on those jobs should be tracking ALCOSAN's procurement calendar and building relationships with the authority's project team well before the next RFQ surfaces.
At 4.9 miles of deep tunnel with multiple shafts and surface structures, the trade demand on this job alone should be substantial. For specialty contractors in the Pittsburgh region, this program represents years of pipeline, not a single opportunity.
Brayman's CEO noted the company has followed this program for more than a decade. That kind of sustained owner relationship is exactly what wins work on major public infrastructure programs. If your company is not already known to ALCOSAN's project team, the time to change that is now.
