popular logistics

MTA Tunnel Progress - East Side Access - as of June, 2008

New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced great progress in its “East Side Access” project. In less than a year - two tunnel boring machines have dug tunnels of 5,421 feet and 3,705 feet. The longer tunnel is over a mile long - and by public-works standards, that seems pretty fast. Worth remembering if we need to build shelters, or more mass transit, or pneumatic mail or package delivery systems. The Times has a brilliant 360-degree panoramic image by Raymond McCrea Jones and Gabriel Dance, and other outstanding still images by Ozier Muhammad. From the Times’ print coverage by William Neuman,  19 Stories Below Manhattan, a 640-Ton Machine Drills a New Train Tunnel; note the discrepancy in reported progress between the number provided to Neuman and the figures in the MTA’s diagram, retrieved from their website on 19 July:

“No windshield? Don’t need one,” said the driver (or operator, as he prefers), Anthony Spinoso.

Over several months he has driven the machine 7,700 feet, from a spot deep under Second Avenue and 63rd Street, through the bedrock, to the depths beneath Grand Central Terminal, where the tunnel he has helped dig will someday bring Long Island Rail Road trains to the East Side of Manhattan.

Now he is backing the machine up several hundred feet to a point where it will begin boring a parallel tunnel. Another thing that Mr. Spinoso does not have is a steering wheel. Instead, he guides the movement of the machine with buttons in front of him, striving to hold a green dot (his machine) on the computer screen at the center of a narrow yellow line that represents his programmed course. He must keep the 22-foot-tall, 360-foot-long behemoth on track without varying more than 2 inches in any direction.

“You just push the buttons, it’s like a video game,” said Edward Kennedy, an engineer helping to supervise the work. “The guy has a screen with a yellow line on it, the yellow brick road. All he has to do is keep on the yellow brick road.”

The digging began last fall for the new Long Island Rail Road tunnels - there will ultimately be eight tunnel sections feeding into an immense new station below Grand Central. There are two machines working simultaneously on separate tunnel sections (the second one, which started later, has reached 48th Street). They can cut through 100 feet of rock a day but often move much slower. The tunneling and the excavation of a huge cavern under Grand Central to house the new station are expected to be completed in 2012, but the entire project will not be finished until at least 2015.

The boring is being done for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by Dragados Judlau, a joint venture of large construction firms. The cost of the tunneling is $428 million, but the entire project, which includes building out the station and laying the tracks, is expected to cost $7.2 billion. The new tunnels will connect to an existing tunnel under the East River and from there (via more tunneling) to Long Island Rail Road tracks in Queens.

[Emphasis (bold/red) supplied.]

Cf. data in MTA diagram, supra; the two subtotals in the MTA diagram total, according to our calculations, 9,126 feet. This may be no more than a minor error, or a question of dating - as the general progress seems swift, at least by New York standards. (Note that, nearly seven years after the 9/11 attacks, we’ve not agreed on a plan, much less completed one).

Other Resources:

MTA Capital Construction - East Side Access

Wikipedia entry on MTA East Side Access project

Jen Chung at Gothamist and Al Baker of the Times have good coverage of the new, much-increased Department of Homeland Security grant to provide security for New York City subways, including the 16 underwater tunnels that link the boroughs to each other, and to the mainland (the Bronx, of course, is actually on the mainland). From Gothamist:

Liz Borkowski at The Pump Handle has an interesting discussion of sewage systems - she points out that

While most of sewage systems do a great job of making the water look clean and getting rid of bacteria and viruses, they often aren’t designed to remove synthetic chemicals. With so many of us dependent on daily doses of pharmaceuticals, we’re excreting lots of drugs (or their metabolites), and they’re sticking around in treated wastewater. Researchers are now starting to discover what that means for the environment.

What’s In Your Sewage? at The Pump Handle

And then, typically for The Pump Handle, follows up with well-sourced, calm discussion which will leave you better informed.

There may be long-term planning implications with respect to how we design sewage and filtration systems. We’re also reminded of the toxic soup post-Katrina - composed not only of sewage - but of every opened bottle of household cleanser, paint, insecticide, etc. which was on a floor low enough to have the water pass through. (I’ll try to update later with links to the post-Katrina water issues).

Celeste Monforton of The Pump Handle has a disturbing account of the current status of the Crandall Canyon disaster: Congress has cancelled scheduled hearings; even more disturbing, there’s an emerging record of failure(s)  to report hazards  as required - and  what appears to  have been the  willful destruction of evidence. 

Disturbing any way you look at it - assuming that you think workplaces ought to be safe. (If you don’t think that, I’m afraid my advocacy skills may not be up to the challenge).

Link to Dr. Monforton’s piece at The Pump Handle.  We’ll try to follow up.

Thomas J. Lueck (copy) and Tyler Hicks (images) of my hometown paper have reported that in the most prominent, and well-kept, public park in New York City, rats play as though they were squirrels. Notwithstanding municipal efforts to persuade them to relocate. From November 10, 2007, “Where the Rats Come Out to Play”:

The rat that was circling André Thomas’s feet was big and brazen, measuring more than a foot from the tip of its tail to a pointed snout that arched upward to the aroma of Mr. Thomas’s ham and cheese sandwich.

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The encounter might not have seemed all that unusual to many New Yorkers, who have become wearily accustomed to rats bounding along subway tracks or lurking about garbage bins, usually after dark.

But this rat sighting came as a shock to Mr. Thomas because of when and, especially, where it took place — 2 p.m. on a brilliant fall afternoon while he sat on a bench in City Hall Park, a nine-acre jewel of the municipal park system that underwent a $30 million renovation in 1999. The park is a cornerstone of the city’s efforts to revive Lower Manhattan.

“At first I thought it was a squirrel,” Mr. Thomas said as he strode away. “Isn’t this where the mayor works?”

Mr. Thomas’s rodent experience was hardly unusual. If he had looked under the park’s benches and around its meticulously cropped foliage, he would have spotted at least six other rats scurrying around, unconcerned about the humans all around.

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The infestation of rats in City Hall Park, clearly an embarrassment to the city, was acknowledged in interviews by senior officials of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the city’s lead agency for rodent control, and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

“It’s just a big issue down there and we all recognize it,” said Jessica Leighton, the health department’s deputy commissioner for environmental health. Adrian Benepe, the commissioner of parks and recreation, said that City Hall Park provided “a perfect set of circumstances for rats.”

The Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad Map:

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Apparently the system, as it evolved, had many surplus tunnels. And a parcel delivery system that never quite caught on. Seems well-suited for moving food, medicine and people in emergencies. (We haven’t learned yet anything about the flood-resistance of these tunnels, which were, on average, about 40 feet under street level.

This must be one of those “absent-minded” professors we’re always hearing about. Because he’s apparently not one of the “treehugging liberal elite,” either.

Celeste Monforton points out that Professor Rick Honaker of the University of Kentucky recently wrote an Op-Ed - but didn’t disclose that his professorship, and his department, take money from mining interests - and made broad and extravagant claims regarding the introduction of H.R. 2768:

In “New Mining Bill Premature,” printed in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Professor Rick Honaker says it is incomprehensible” that Congress is attempting to place new safety requirements on coal operators. * He claims new mandates will “serve no useful purpose” and will “only undermine the efforts of those trying to implement” the 2006 MINER Act. That’s some tough criticism.

On closer look, I notice that neither the op-ed itself nor the professor’s byline mentions his university department’s financial connection to mining industry—an industry that also strongly opposes HR 2768. These ties include a large financial endowment established by the mining industry, called the Mining Engineering Foundation. The Foundation was created in 1983 with a $1 million endowment, which included a hefty donation of $500,000 from Mr. Catesby Clay, president of Kentucky River Coal.** Interest from the fund now provides financial support to school’s mining engineering department.

- snip -

In Dr. Honaker’s case, his byline states:

“Rick Honaker is the Mining Foundation Distinguished Professor and chairman of the University of Kentucky department of mining engineering.”

I’ve since learned that Dr. Honaker’s distinguished professorship is affiliated with the Mining Engineering Foundation, (not the Mining Foundation.) This led me to the information about the group’s financial support of Professor Honaker’s department.

- snip -

Notes:

*In the posted version of Rick Honaker PhD’s op-ed, the yellow highlighted phrases are mine (for emphasis.)

**Mr. Clay was recently honored by the Kentucky Coal Association.

Celeste Monforton’s post at The Pump Handle.

It’s disturbing that the Lexington Herald-Leader couldn’t (or wouldn’t) figure this out for itself - it’s axiomatic that readers are entitled to know who’s speaking - or on whose behalf a speaker works.

If Professor Honaker ever testifies under oath, and makes, or has made, a practice of this omission, he’s laid an elegant foundation for some interesting cross-examination. To quote the noted trial lawyer David Lewis, “Bias is never collateral.”

Let’s suppose for a moment that Honaker is right about the legislation in question. But now, having concealed his financial ties, he’s made a permanant and public record of misleading by omission. If he’s an honest scholar, he’s unfairly damaged his own reputation.

Drainspotting.com is a terrific collection of manhole covers - and a few other pieces of imagery embedded in sidewalks. The following images from DrainSpotting were taken by Edward MacGregor Since one of the most important things we can do in preparing our own communities is to know what’s underneath them, knowledge of what covers the openings seems a good starting point. At this writing, I’m several thousand feet away from an underground, unmarked series of pipes which carry, among other things, jet fuel. (One backhoe miscalculation and one cigarette away from what we suspect would be a memorable incident).

Got a question about this the other day; here’s what I know - we’ll add some more information later:

1. An exploding manhole cover is  a predictor of nearby manhole cover explosions. But not necessarily adjacent holes. So if there’s a problem with one - great caution about all area manholes is indicated. 

2. They’re very heavy - and they’ve been measured going as high as 400 feet vertical. After that, they descend (32fps squared, less  drag). Do the math.

Here’s one resource

“How Exploding Manholes Work,”  by Kevin Bonsor, on HowStuffWorks.com

Here’s one from International Urban Glow

[singlepic=151,320,240,,]  We still haven’t quite sorted out Coppermine gallery integration or the other various WordPress image plugins. But we’ll keep working on it. In the meantime - here’s one image.

Apart from the aesthetics of the images, this is part of some ongoing research into the utility of underground systems - both in emergencies and normal circumstances. About which we hope to report more shortly.

Link to “Canada Underground” gallery here.

Question - why do they call it a “Kowalski” pose? The only Kowalski we care about here is our dear friend Betty Jean Kowalski, elected Freeholder of Cranford, New Jersey. (Disclosure: Popular Logistics’ editor-in-chief, head nurse, and chef - yes, that’s really only two people - have worked on Freeholder Kowalski’s campaigns).

Thanks to BLDGBLOG for turning us on to IUG.

 From Pruned:

From one of the pages of Modern Mechanics and Invention, scanned and transcribed here by Modern Mechanix, we learn that “[o]ne of the oddest hobbies in the world is that of Dr. H. G. Dyar, international authority on moths and butterflies of the Smithsonian Institution, who has found health and recreation in digging an amazing series of tunnels beneath his Washington home.”

And he was quite the mole: digging and removing the dirt without the help of heavy machinery, “[a]lmost a quarter of a mile of tunnels has been completed, lined with concrete. The deepest passage, illustrated in the accompanying diagram, extends 32 feet down.”

In case you’re wondering: yes, Dr. H. G. Dyar is Geoff Manaugh’s nom de plume. So watch out California, his tunneling activities will undoubtedly compromise the tectonic integrity of the San Andreas Fault.

It’s our thought that we’re going to need to encourage the hobbyists - if not, we may have to improvise uses of existing tunnels.

Here’s a 2005 piece from Building Blog called “London Topological.” Not to quibble - bu t perhaps more correctly London Infralogical - or Infra-Topo-logical? We recommend it for the following reasons:

1. Every piece on  Building Blog perhaps more properly, BLDG BLOG - is worth reading, whether or not you think that you care about architecture.
2. Read a couple of pieces, and you’ll realize that of course you care about architecture.
3. This particular piece has implications for anyone who thinks about (relatively) modern history
4. and even more so for people who care about emergency planning. Although the author, Geoff Manaugh, doesn’t address those issues directly.

We’ll try to directly address the implications of underground system for emergency planners in upcoming posts.

Subbterranea Britannica documenta underground structures - from WW II and the Cold War.  Here are images from various shelters in London:

Nick Catford wrote, in August of 2004,

After nearly eight years and thousands of miles the survey of 1563 ROC underground monitoring posts finally came to an end on Monday 16th August when the last post site was visited at Port Ellen on the Island of Islay off the Scottish west coast.

The folowing set are of disused Royal Observer Corps posts - they’re all  artifacts of the Cold War, acording to Subterranea Britannica - none has a construction date early than 1957; they were all closed in September of 1991:

Note that none appears hidden - at least not based on these relatively recent images. Nor does any have a gun port - or multiple gun ports, which could create a field of fire.

Subterranea Britannica: the  study and investigation of all man-made and man used underground places.

I’d like to see the tunnel that Sherlock Holmes discovered in the “The Red-Headed League.”

According to a press release from Cygnus Business Media, which arranges the conference,

With the support and confidence of leading industry organizations, the highly regarded Damage Prevention Conference & Expo will celebrate its 10th anniversary this December 5 & 6 at the Las Vegas Hilton. The conference and exhibit floor responds to the demand for innovative products, services and training related to preventing damage to the nation’s underground infrastructure and serves professionals from municipalities; oil & gas facilities; telecom, CATV, and power companies; One-Call centers; excavation companies; utility contractors; and SUE firms. This year, show organizers are especially pleased to announce exclusive package pricing developed to offer the most productive and economical options available for companies sending teams of damage prevention professionals.

For those of you who aren’t following this - what you need to know is that the “one-call centers,” which are mandated by federal law, are

The delays on New York’s Second Avenue line are nearing pension age. Our ability to use additional underground capacity - to move passengers, to move freight, and as emergency shelter - is not matched by planning or construction.

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Yet - our former colonial masters - at whom Americans snicker - (yes, marmite doesn’t quite make sense; but this is beside the point) - continue to surpass us in mass transportation and energy efficiency. They’re building new underground train extensions The “long train(s) of abuses and usurpations,” will, reportedly, carry 1,500 passengers  each. The “patient sufferance of these Colonies” perhaps now means that ‘we’ll build mass transportation systems when we’re good and ready.’ [singlepic=72,320,240,,right]

Thingsmagazine reports that the Brits have taken a decision to start construction on a long-planned extension to the London underground transit system - Crossrail. And plans for the “Thames2000″ extension remain under discussion. They could dither for another few years  - and they’d still get it done before the Second Avenue Subway. The following images are of the Thames2000 system.

Images from the thingsmagazine piece, linked here.

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