"Federal and state authorities today unveiled a legal settlement intended to finally complete the Deep Tunnel, the Chicago region’s massive flood- and pollution-control project."

"Relief from swamped basements and sewage overflows still is years away, however.

The deal brokered by the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies and U.S. Department of Justice formalizes deadlines to finish sections of the Deep Tunnel, but the entire system won’t be completed until 2029.
 
Most of the settlement adds legal teeth to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s latest construction schedule for the Deep Tunnel, which has been repeatedly delayed by funding woes and engineering hurdles. Officials broke ground on one of the nation’s most expensive public works projects nearly 40 years ago."

Michael Hawthorne reports for the Chicago Tribune December 14, 2011. [2]