With the NAT Conference hosted this year in Atlanta and with major water tunneling projects in the area underway and recently bid, it is appropriate to review the city's tunneling heritage and recent experience. Refik Elibay, RE., National Director of Tunneling for Atlanta-based consultant Jordon, Jones & Goulding, Inc., draws on his wide experience of tunneling in the area to compile this overview. Most tunnels in metro Atlanta trace their origin to the explosive growth of population and businesses, and the clean water laws enacted by the United States Congress and enforced by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that have evolved to include the need to protect our environment. Increasing regional growth rates and the corresponding demand to improve and expand existing infrastructure began in the late 1960s and continues today, as businesses move to the "Sun Belt" of the southern United States with its lower labor costs and assumed higher productivity due to favorable climatic conditions.
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