A legal dispute surrounding a massive 4-mile tunnel burrowed underneath Hartford and parts of West Hartford has been resolved. The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) says it settled over $50 million in claims with a contractor who worked 200 feet underground to dig the project.
At issue were engineering reports submitted by MDC to its contractor – Kenny Obayashi, a joint venture (KOJV). Those documents, which included construction drawings and “geotechnical” reports, served as the basis for the contractor’s initial $279.4 million project bid.
In a court complaint, KOJV said those reports failed to predict excessive amounts of groundwater that would later flow into the tunnel during the dig. The groundwater slowed the construction timeline and saddled the contractor with extra costs.
“While work was proceeding in the initial reach of the Project tunnel, KOJV encountered water inflows that differed substantially and materially from what was indicated to bidders in the Contract Documents,” the court complaint reads. “As a result … KOJV incurred significant additional costs and its performance was delayed.”
The MDC says differing site conditions are not uncommon when constructing deep rock tunnels.
In an email, the agency says it “saw merit” in some of the contractor’s claims, but disagreed with other work change orders, which it said totaled over $100 million. The matter was referred to a federal court in Hartford in 2022. The case was dismissed when both parties reached an agreement in March.
“Ultimately, the parties were able to resolve their differences by amending the total amount of all pending differing site condition change orders to approximately $51M,” the MDC said in a statement.
A lawyer for KOJV did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The MDC says state officials reviewed and approved the excess costs.
When finished, the South Hartford Conveyance and Storage Tunnel will store up to 41 million gallons of wastewater that can be transported to an MDC plant for treatment.
Currently, such sewage overflows are sent untreated into the Connecticut River during heavy rain.
Tunnel construction began in 2016. The project was initially expected to come online in 2023. The cost for the tunnel is now $335 million. The tunnel is not anticipated to be operational until fall of 2026, MDC says.
Other project costs connected to the tunnel include $115 million for a pump station that is under construction, $1.4 million in electrical upgrades and $38 million for New Britain Avenue conduits, according to the MDC.
