The Doan Valley Storage Tunnel (DVT) project is a major component of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s $3-billion Project Clean Lake program to reduce combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges into Lake Erie. Functioning as both a deep interceptor conveyance sewer and a CSO storage facility, the DVT system will control overflows at 11 permitted CSO locations along Doan Brook, a major tributary to Lake Erie, and reduce CSO volumes by 350 million gallons each year. This reduction will provide water quality benefits and reduce public health risks associated with CSOs in Doan Brook and contribute to improving Lake Erie for boating, beach-going, and other recreational purposes. Designed by the Joint Venture of McMillen Jacobs Associates and Wade Trim, the project received a national Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) as well as recognition on the state level from ACEC of Ohio.

Creative solutions were developed to optimize design and construction and mitigate risks. The 3.7 miles of tunnel in rock includes the 18-foot-diameter Doan Valley Storage Tunnel and the 8.5-foot-diameter Woodhill Conveyance Tunnel and MLK Conveyance Tunnel. The project also includes five drop shafts, near surface structures with consolidation sewers, and an emergency overflow. Routed through University Circle, a medical and cultural hub east of downtown Cleveland, the tunnel alignments minimized community impacts, maximized public rights-of-way, and saved costs by avoiding conflicts with vital existing infrastructure.

The DVT system’s challenging hydraulic performance requirements were met using three different types of drop structures to accommodate an extreme range of dry and wet weather flow rates and volumes. Physical modeling and computational fluid dynamics modeling were used to refine the configuration of innovative cascading baffle drop shafts. Another type of drop shaft features a unique helicoidal design that conveys wet weather flows within a small space. Additionally, the Giddings Brook Culvert was repurposed to serve as a consolidation conduit using geopolymer liner technology that saved over $22 million.

Wade Trim’s Tim O’Rourke (center left) and McMillen Jacobs Associates’ (from left) Mike Seluga, Dan Dobbels, and Brad Murray accepted the national Honor Award from ACEC representatives at the Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on May 24, 2022, in Washington, DC.

(From left) Wade Trim’s Rory Ball and Alan Stadler, and McMillen Jacobs Associates’ Mike Seluga, Dan Dobbels, Brad Murray, and Jake Keegan accepted the Outstanding Achievement Award on March 10 at the ACEC Ohio Engineering Excellence Awards Luncheon in Columbus.