By Cody Mello-Klein | cmelloklein@alextimes.com

AlexRenew broke ground on the largest infrastructure project in Alexandria’s history on Sept. 30: the $454.4 million Old Town RiverRenew Tunnel Project.

The project, which AlexRenew said will prevent 120 million gallons of raw sewage from dumping into local waterways on an annual basis, is part of a broader state-mandated initiative to push the city toward improving its water quality efforts.

The state mandate was issued in 2017 and set a July 25, 2025 deadline for the city to meet its water quality goals. Shortly after, in 2018, AlexRenew assumed ownership of the city’s combined sewer outfalls. According to Alexandria leadership, the city is on track to meet that deadline.

The project as a whole will involve a two-mile long underground tunnel, an open-cut pipeline and other forms of infrastructure that will capture, store and transport combined sewage to AlexRenew’s treatment plant, according to a news release. AlexRenew claims the project will reduce harmful overflow events from 70 per year to less than four per year.