LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The Louisville Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District’s (MSD) Waterway Protection Tunnel Project can move to the next phase now that an important piece of equipment has arrived.

The arrival of a key piece of the 412 foot tunnel boring machine named “Bumblebee”, a 22-foot diameter cutterhead, was celebrated a ceremony on Monday. The machine’s name was inspired by Muhammad Ali’s famous quote, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” The name was chosen as a part of a naming contest MSD conducted among its employees.

Bumblebee weighs 885,000 pounds, has a cutter head 22 feet in diameter and has a machine thrust of 3,530,000 pounds.