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Amazement Square, a popular interactive children’s museum in Lynchburg, VA, has created a hands-on exhibit based on the Combined Sewer Overflow CSO project. Wiley|Wilson has provided engineering expertise and support on this project to the City of Lynchburg.

“Because the project is taking place so close to the museum, this was an opportunity to give children a simplified education on what is going on right outside, as well as providing details about different facets of the project, like what tools are being used,” explained Keith Thompson, PE, LEED AP BD+C, ENV SP Department Manager, Civil/Water Resources.

Part of the work on this project includes hand tunneling under the Norfolk and Southern railroad track beside the museum. During that excavation, the team has encountered a steel structure that used to be the old Union Station Platform as well as one of the old canal walls. Sections of the steel and stones from the wall are being salvaged for later use.“We are very excited to work with Amazement Square on this exhibit and introduce emerging generations to the field of engineering and the exciting types of projects that engineers get to work on,” Keith added.

Excavation is also necessary under the Ninth Street stone arch bridge, which will require small equipment to remove the trench under the bridge. Rails will then be used to help place the pipe and ensure the bridge is not damaged. After the excavation, the grades below the bridge will remain low to install a new trail below the bridge, connecting the Blackwater Creek trail to the Raingarden and Riverside Park Sprayground areas. By replacing the line and increasing capacity of the sewer, the waste water treatment plant will be able to receive and treat more sewage during wet weather, thereby reducing the amount of untreated sewage that is released into the James River and Blackwater Creek during rainy weather.

The award-winning Amazement Square children’s museum is located in historic downtown Lynchburg, VA, and the CSO Project Exhibition is located on the museum’s fourth floor, in the On the James exhibition.

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About Amazement Square
As Central Virginia’s first multidisciplinary, hands-on children’s museum, Amazement Square is dedicated to motivating children and adults of all backgrounds and abilities towards greater creativity and understanding of themselves and the world through hands-on learning. The Museum’s exhibits and educational programs encourage all participants to explore the arts and humanities, culture, science, technology, and their interdisciplinary relationships. For more information please visit www.amazementsquare.org or www.facebook.com/amazementsquare.