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“Who you calling ‘boring’!?”

The City of Fort Wayne wants you to help name the mighty TBM

By Eddie Torres

Fort Wayne Reader

2018-05-31

One of the largest public infrastructure projects in the history of Fort Wayne is underway with the construction of the Deep Rock Tunnel, a planned five-mile-long tunnel, more than 200-feet under the earth’s surface, with an interior diameter of 16-feet, designed to combat the hazards of combined sewer overflow and thus improve the quality of our rivers.

Over the next several years, more than 4,000 workers will be involved in the tunnel’s construction. One worker in particular will be grinding away grinding away 24-hours-a-day, no coffee breaks, lunches, weekends or holidays off — the Tunnel Boring Machine, or TBM. At 20-feet in diameter and 400-feet in length this massive machine is vital to the construction of the tunnel.

But it needs a name.

Mining lore says that as far back as the 1500s workers prayed to Saint Barbara for protection while working in the dark underground. Since then, most TBM’s have been given women’s names, but that’s changing and some have received male or gender neutral names.

We’re sure the phrase “boring machine” linked so closely with “Fort Wayne” suggests all sorts of possibilities to you bar stool wits out there. But over the past month, the city worked with area schools, neighborhood leaders and City Utilities staff members to come up with ideas for a name. Students narrowed the list to four and, and now it’s your turn to vote!

Voting is going on now and continues through June 7 .

TBM Name Finalists:

Buster or Bedrock Buster: The machine digs deep underground. While digging, the machine “busts” through bedrock. The machine is designed to break apart rocks and tear through them.

Daisy or Daisy the Digger: During World War II, Fort Wayne’s professional women’s baseball team was named the Daisies. This name honors the ground-breaking and earth-shattering role of the Daisies, who helped pave the way for women’s professional sports.

MaMaJo: A tribute to Fort Wayne’s three rivers, Ma from Mary, Ma from Maumee and Jo from St. Joe. Pronounced “Mama Jo.” The tunnel will help protect Fort Wayne's rivers.

Wayne the Worm: This combines the name of our city and the purpose of the machine, which is to dig the tunnel in bedrock just like a large worm would dig a tunnel in the earth.

As we said, voting is going on now and continues through June 7. You can vote at votefortwaynetunnel.org

The TBM name will be revealed next month.