The mining phase of a massive engineering project in Niagara Falls, Ontario is officially over now, after the world's largest rock tunnel boring machine finally reached the surface four years late and $600 million over budget.
The giant machine nicknamed "Big Becky" has been tunneling between 90 and 140 metres below the famous tourist town since 2006. In a ceremony Friday, the massive machine will have its first glimpse of daylight in years when it emerges in a 100-metre deep pit along the Niagara Parkway near the falls.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who was on hand to flip the switch that set the $35 million, 4,000 tonne boring machine in motion five years ago, joined local politicians and officials from Ontario Power Generation and the Austrian firm hired to dig the tunnel for the breakthrough.
"I want to thank everyone who has put their shoulder to the wheel on this project," McGuinty said Friday morning.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy and it wasn't going to be fast," he added. "But we knew it was going to last and that it would make a difference."
Just moments earlier, OPG President Tom Mitchell called the tunnel a "tremendous achievement" from which future generations of Ontarians stand to benefit considerably.
"All of it made possible by truly an engineering marvel that will last 100 years," he told the crowd assembled to witness Big Becky bore through the final metres. "It's because of all of this effort by all of you here today that we're here to celebrate," he said, adding his pride in the project's safety record.
"This new Niagara tunnel has been excavated with no fatalities, no serious injuries and no major accidents."
The 10.2 kilometre-long, 14.4-metre high tunnel that Big Becky's been boring since Sept. 2006 is designed to redirect water from just above the city's iconic Horseshoe Falls downstream to the Sir Adam Beck generating stations.
When it finally goes into operation, the four-storey tunnel will carry water at a rate of about 500 cubic metres per second.
By the time that rush of water is turned into electricity, it should account for about 1.6 billion kilowatt hours annually, or enough to power 160,000 homes.
Ontario Power Generation initially expected the project to cost $985 million, but that was before construction crews hit harder-than-expected rock early in the project.
In his comments Friday, Strabag CEO Hans Peter Haselsteiner singled out "the entirely Canadian workforce" for praise in handling the challenges.
"You did a really impressive job when you produced 20 to 30 metres per day, but you really did a much more impressive job when you produced half a metre or one metre a day," he said.
"When I watched you work under these conditions I was speechless. It was unbelievable how you handled this project at its technical limits."
According to Energy Minister Brad Duguid, at its final cost of $1.6 billion the project still represents good value for money.
"It had to be re-profiled early on in the project, (mainly) for worker safety, so it did end up costing more than expected, but it's still very good value for money," Duguid told The Canadian Press.
After all, the publicly-owned utility behind the project boasts that the tunnel will continue to makes its clean energy contribution with minimal maintenance costs for a hundred years or more.
Progressive Conservative energy critic John Yakabuski sees a different legacy, however. Decrying the project's transformation from its well-intentioned beginnings into "somewhat of a boondoggle," he says Ontarians should prepare to pay the price.
"It's hardly a time to be rejoicing," he told CP, warning that the cost overruns will inevitably wind up in rising electricity bills.
But that final tally will take a few years yet, as the end of the mining operation now makes way for a crew of 400 workers to complete the tunnel's smooth concrete lining and intake and outlet structures.
That work is expected to be complete by 2013.
In the meantime, Niagara Falls residents have been asked to start thinking about where they'd like to put their newest giant souvenir.
"We will be working with the community to find the best location to display all or part of the cutter head, as a lasting tribute to the project," Mitchell said, as he vowed to donate the part to the city as "an artefact for future generations."
With files from The Canadian Press
