Cat Excavators with Hydraulic Breaker, I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility, Minneapolis

The I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility is an underground detention system built by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to capture and manage runoff from the freeway corridor before it reaches the Mississippi River. Caterpillar excavators fitted with hydraulic breakers and demolition attachments were used to bore and shape the concrete-lined chambers that make up the facility's storage shafts. Equipment like the 320-series and 330-series excavators shown here is commonly used on underground infrastructure jobs for both rock excavation and material handling in confined spaces. The facility's construction required breaking through solid rock to form connected chambers capable of holding millions of gallons of stormwater during heavy rain events.

Photo taken in February 2022.