Construction on the massive, mile-long tunnel designed to divert flash flooding from Old Ellicott City will begin this summer, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said Monday.

The 18-foot tunnel will collect stormwater along the steep-sided valley to keep it out of the historic mill town, which experienced catastrophic, deadly floods in 2011, 2016 and 2018, and carry it down to the Patapsco River.

Ball announced that work would start this summer while standing 150 feet under Old Ellicott City in an access shaft for the project. He was joined by Del. M. Courtney Watson, state Senators Guy Guzzone and Katie Fry Hester, and Heather Owens, who survived the 2016 flood.

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