Those in the Georgetown area may hear loud booms or feel the ground shaking this week and throughout the next year, thanks to construction related to a new wastewater tunnel.
D.C. Water will be conducting controlled blasting roughly every two weeks near the Canal Road entrance to Georgetown University.
Workers are blasting a deep shaft into the northern end of the 5.5-mile Potomac River Tunnel Project.
During blasting an air horn will sound off in the area and drivers and pedestrians will be stopped for a few minutes as they do the demolition. A final air horn will sound when the area is clear and traffic can again begin moving. This blasting will continue until June 2027.
Two tunnel boring machines will dig the tunnel. One will travel 2.4 miles to the Georgetown site, the other will dig just over 3 miles to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and connect the existing Anacostia River Tunnel.
The entire tunnel project is expected to wrap up in 2030. Once complete, it will help keep sewage out of the Potomac River during heavy rains.
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