Help Name our Tunnel Boring Machine for the Ellicott City North Tunnel project!

The Extended North Tunnel is a focal point of Howard County Executive Calvin Ball's Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan. The North Tunnel is a water conveyance project that will carry flood waters from the West End area of Ellicott City through an 18-feet in diameter tunnel to the Patapsco River. This project will reduce the risk of flash flooding by intercepting water from the western portions of town and diverting it underground and away from Main Street.

To construct the North Tunnel, Howard County will work with our construction management team to build a Tunnel Boring Machine, which will be tooled specifically to drill through Ellicott City granite. Using a series of electric motors, a rotating cutter head will grind through 5,000 feet of granite to create the tunnel.

Tunnel Boring Machines are traditionally given names, and Howard County invites you to participate in the naming of the TBM for the North Tunnel Project! Please vote for your top choice below: