[VIDEO] ‘Big Tex’ to Bore 5-Mile Tunnel Under Dallas

Crews in Dallas are set to begin boring the Mill Creek Tunnel, a miles-long underground tunnel that will provide flooding relief to parts of the city that have gone underwater during heavy rain. According to Dallas news, the machine, named “Big Tex,” is 38 feet in diameter and 230 feet long. Its spinning head will cut a five-mile path through rock 100 to 150 feet below the city’s surface.

City Council member Lee Kleinman told Dallas News that the project will become the largest hard-rock tunneling project in the world. The tunnel will be able to handle a maximum of 9 million gallons of water per minute, providing flood protection for nearly 2,200 properties over 3,200 acres.

The machine will run 24 hours a day, with minimal impacts to neighborhoods above the tunnel. Before the years of tunneling can begin, crews will spend nearly two months taking apart the machine and reassembling it underground. Officials hope the rock displaced while boring can be recycled as fill material for other projects. 

Source: Dallas News