Akron Hires Chicago, Japanese Companies to Build Sewer Tunnel

By John Harper, Northeast Ohio Media Group

AKRON, Ohio -- A company in Chicago and a company in Japan will build the giant 27-foot sewer tunnel underneath downtown Akron, dubbed the largest construction project in the city's history.

Part of a federal mandate to stop its sewers from overflowing into the Little Cuyahoga and Cuyahoga rivers, the tunnel is the single largest piece of the roughly $1.4 billion project.

The two companies, Chicago's Kenny Construction and Japan's Obayashi Corporation, won a joint bid to finish the project for $184.1 million, $68 million under the city's $250 million estimate.