CAPTION ONLY: SHE'LL BE COMIN' THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN

Work crews stand in front of an 80-ton mechanical mole that will be used this week to start boring a tunnel in Provo Canyon to accommodate a 11/2 mile portion of the Olmsted Aqueduct. The mechanical mole, which will bore a 13-foot diameter hole through bedrock, is capable of generating up to 1 million pounds of thrust on the face of the mountain, said Lee Renegar, project manager. After the tunnel is drilled, it will be lined with concrete and be used to deliver 70,000 acre-feet of water to the Salt Lake Valley annually. The $9.6 million tunnel-drilling proj-ect is expected to take 90 days to complete. Crews will work behind the mole, which is capable of drilling about 500 feet per week, as it transports excavated material out of the tunnel via a conveyor-belt system. After the tunnel is completed, the mountainside will be recontoured with topsoil and reseeded.