The Tunnels of NYC's East Side Access Project
| 
A huge public works project is currently under construction in New York City, connecting Long Island to Manhattan's East Side. Deep underground, rail tunnels are extending from Sunnyside, Queens, to a new Long Island Rail Road terminal being excavated beneath Grand Central Terminal. Construction began in 2007, with an estimated cost of $6.3 billion and completion date of 2013. Since then, the cost estimate has been raised to $8.4 billion, and the completion date moved back to 2019. When finished, the line will accommodate 24 trains per hour at peak traffic, cutting down on commute times from Long Island, and opening up access to John F. Kennedy International Airport from Manhattan's East Side. Collected here are images of the progress to date, deep beneath Queens and Manhattan. [33 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose:
An overhead view of the construction pit and tunnel access chamber, in Sunnyside, Queens, near Queens Plaza station. At lower left is the muck staging area for material removed while tunneling. See this view on Google Maps. (© Google, Inc.) # 
Work underway on one of the most challenging parts of the entire project -- excavating a tunnel under Northern Boulevard, while simultaneously supporting the overhead roadway, the overhead underground subway, and the elevated subway. To ensure stability, the tunnel was excavated in seven separate horizontal segments, or "drifts." And because the ground is soft at this site and difficult to control during excavation, it was frozen to allow for increased control and rigidity. Workers had to drive a new set of foundation pilings into the ground to temporarily support the elevated structure during construction. They then jacked up the line a fraction of an inch to shift the weight to the temporary supports, which you can see running vertically through the newly built tunnel. Those supports will be removed after the weight of the elevated subway is shifted back to the walls of the tunnel, which has been engineered to carry the load. Photographed on December 20, 2012. (MTA/Patrick Cashin) #
Related links and information
East Side Access Update - MTA Photos on Flickr
East Side Access projec - MTA Info
East Side Access Project - Wikipedia entry
0 comments:
Post a Comment