Category Archives: underground systems

Urban Planning: A brief history of the Minneapolis skyways

Posted in its entirety from Jason Kottke’s blog. We did not know about this system, but think it’s worth considering for a number of reasons: it gets people walking in inclement weather rather than taking their vehicles or not travelling at all; probably stops the weather from entirely shutting down Minneapolis, and, to the extent it’s reducing vehicle and pedestrian traffic, likely reducing accidents, property damage, death and injury. An example of excellent urban transportation planning.

A brief history of the Minneapolis skyways

If you’ve ever been to downtown Minneapolis, you’ve likely used the large network of above-grade covered walkways that now stretches into nearly every corner of the downtown area. I’d always assumed they were built to help downtown workers and residents avoid cold weather during the winter, but that’s not the case.

Rather, the skyway system originally emerged from a twofold desire. First, planners in the 1940s and 50s were very concerned about managing increasingly dense pedestrian flows, and viewed skyways as a way to maximize the use of urban space for both people and automobiles (Byers 1998 154). Second, business owners were interested in maximizing their property values, and saw the skyways an opportunity to double the amount of valuable retail space in their downtown buildings (Byers 1998 159).

I used to work in downtown Minneapolis, and the skyways were great in the winter. To be able to take a walk and get lunch without having to bundle up in coat, hat, mittens, scarf, etc. was almost like living in a warm climate…and that’s no small thing during a long, dark Mpls winter. (via ?than)

via kottke.org – home of fine hypertext products.

We’re aware of the Chicago system of underground streets, the abandoned postal tube systems in the United States and others  (See, e.g. Multilevel streets in Chicago – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). To the extent we’ve failed to exploit these opportunities, or used and abandoned them, they constitute wasted assets. See also Minneapolis Skyway System (Wikipedia entry); Leif Petterson’s Take the Skyway on Vita.MN (The Twin Cities Going-Out Guide).

We’re not sure if this is part of Chicago’s underground street system, now unused, which was used to expedite deliveries and at the same time to reduce traffic congestion on Chicago’s street-level. We believe that underground systems – including pneumatic tube systems – have in some places been prematurely abandoned. They reduce congestion (waiting time and reduced speeds are responsible for a large share of the pollution generated by vehicles), speed delivery, and reduce costs for everyone. Here’s an early photograph of rail-based mail processing in Chicago.

 

Decison on Keystone XL Pipeline Delayed Until After Presidential Election

Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet Via NPR‘s All Things Considered, from correspondent Richard Harris, Feds Delay Decision On Pipeline Project

The State Department is delaying a decision for at least a year on whether to approve the Keystone pipeline. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, through the U.S. to Gulf of Mexico refineries. Nebraska’s state government and environmental groups have put intense pressure on the State Department and White House to reject the pipeline’s proposed route. NPR’s Richard Harris talks with Robert Siegel about the project.

Audio here (available after 1900 hours Eastern time, 10 November 2011).

Wikipedia’s entry Keystone XL Pipeline has a detailed – and, in our view, fair – account of the controversy.  While on balance we do not support the Keystone pipeline, a very well-reasoned argument in favor of the pipeline can be foundon the blog of JEH Land Clearing, from which we’ve taken the following map of the proposed pipeline (route in red; other pipelines indicated are already in existence/operation).

The Texas economy will benefit from the increase in production. The area east of I-35 is consistently in economic hardship (Port Arthur’s unemployment rate is hovering around 15%), and the construction, land clearing, surveying and refinery jobs will help lower the staggering unemployment rate. It is estimated that the Keystone Pipeline will help create over 20,000 jobs. Texas alone will see over $2.3B in new spending and the US will see about $20B in new spending. The increase of personal income in the state will be about $1.6B and the US will see an increase of $6.5BB. Profits will be re-invested in the local economy improving the quality of life and increasing the number of business in the area. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, one fact remains; the only one way to get heavy crude from Canada to the Texas gulf coast is a pipeline.

Excerpted from Oil Pipeline Invigorates Texas Economy

We support public works projects as economic stimulus, particularly those which come with improvements to energy and other infrastructure; in our view a massive wind/solar public works project in Texas might have the same effective economic stimulus with a better energy outcome, with a significantly lower environmental impact

What JEH doesn’t mention are the costs in terms of environmental damage, water, and health effects. These are long term costs, which are, in the parlance of neoclassical economics, “externalized,”or pushed into the future, and pushed off the balance sheets, kind of like CDO’s, or Collatoralized Debt Obligations, made famous by the financial crisis. Ecological economics recognizes that these costs must be considered, just as recent economic history forces us to recognize the real value of mortgages and mortgage backed securities. As we are learning, ignoring risk is unwise. Put bluntly, the Keystone XL pipeline is kind of like a $1.0 Million “McMansion” sold for $25,000 down, with a $1.0 Million mortgage which is, of course, a negatively amortized interest-only note for the first 5 years – at which time the borrowers will have to pay $1.1 Million, plus interest. But in reality, the $5 billion pipeline is like an aggregated set of five thousand negatively amortizing $1.0 Million toxic McMortgages on McMansions built of radioactive materials on toxic waste sites below sea level.

We intend to elaborate on the costs, risks, and benefits of pipelines in future posts; as well as a series on the Bonneville Power Administration, which has been supplying electricity in the Northwest for almost 75 years, and which we think is a model for energy-related public works projects.

Brad Horn: Alexander Kendrick invents low-frequency antenna which works in caves

We’re tempted to follow the editorial lead of others who’ve covered this story – emphasizing that Alexander Kendrick is 16 years old and won a science fair prize for his new low-frequency radio system. We agree that it’s more remarkable that he’s only 16 – but think this would be a remarkable achievement if he were 61.

It’s our impression, based on Brad Horn’s excellent coverage, that this system is lightweight, portable, easily assembled, and relies on relatively inexpensive components.  Check out Brad Horn’s piece on NPR, Texting Underground Can Save Lives And Caves.

Caves are some of the last places on the planet left to explore. Though caving is relatively safe, if something goes wrong deep inside the Earth, a rescue can take days — in part because cell phones and walkie-talkies don’t work underground. But a remarkable teenager in New Mexico has invented a device that may significantly speed that process with the ability to text from underground caves. The young man’s invention may have other applications, as well.

We hope to have an update with images and more information in the near future.

See also:

Brad Horn multimedia (some of his other work) and the Veterans’ Listening Project.


Wired/Washington Post: Construction Crew Severs Secret ‘Black Line’

Another reminder of how effective government can be once it’s decided to be vigilant:

A construction crew working on an office building in Virginia in 2000 severed a fiber optic cable that wasn’t on anyone’s map. Apparently it was a ‘black line’ used for carrying secret intelligence data, according to sources who spoke recently with the Washington Post.

Within minutes of cutting the cable, three black SUV’s pulled up carrying men in suits who complained that their line was severed.

“The construction manager was shocked,” a worker told the Washington Post. “He had never seen a line get cut and people show up within seconds. Usually you’ve got to figure out whose line it is. To garner that kind of response that quickly was amazing.”

Construction Crew Severs Secret ‘Black Line.’

Fiddler on the Roof hd

Hard-Boiled hd

The Forbidden Kingdom ipod




Republican Alternative Energy: Coal, Oil, & Nuclear Power

“The Republican Road to Recovery”  according to John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Thaddeus McCotter, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, John R. Carter, Pete Sessions, Kevin McCarthy, David Dreier, Roy Blunt, who signed it, “Keeps Energy and Fuel Costs Low.” It mentions wind and solar, but focuses on coal, oil, oil shale, offshore drilling, and nuclear power.

The document says “Republicans want energy independence with increased development of all natural resources, including renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.” It doesn’t mention “global warming.” It mentions the term “greenhouse gases” once, stating, incorrectly, that nuclear power doesn’t produce greenhouse gases. Mining, processing, and transporting nuclear fuel, and managing radioactive wastes, produces tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases.

It points out that “Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry … have long fought a renewable wind project in waters off of Massachusetts…. Cape Wind, would provide 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket island. “

The document focuses on coal, oil, and nuclear power. These are not clean, renewable, sustainable energy sources.  Ultimately, therefore, it attempts to “greenwash” coal, oil, and nuclear power.

the Administration has already taken steps to hinder the leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which is estimated to hold at least 19 billion barrels of oil, and Democrats have long championed the prohibition on drilling in the Arctic Coastal Plain – which is estimated to hold 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Furthormore, Democrats continue to block the procurement of advanced alternative fuels from sources such as oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid technology. U.S. Oil shale alone could provide about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Republicans also support opening the Arctic Coastal Plain to energy exploration and development.

And despite expert agreement that nuclear power is reliable, clean, and affordable without producing air pollution or greenhouse gases, Democrats continue to block its development.

Republicans realize that there are better solutions to restore freedom and security in our energy market.  Republicans recognize the importance of exploring for American oil and gas in an envionronmentally-sound manner and support immediately leasing oil and gas resources in the OCS through an an expedited and streamlined procedure.

Republicans support removing government barriers to new nuclear reactors as long as they meet strict security and safety criteria.

Americans realize that the future of energy is in alternative and renewable sources. In order to promote the development of renewable and alternative energy, Republicans support promoting the leasing of federal lands which contain alternative energy such as oil shale. … spurring a market by using fuels derived from oil shale, tar sands, and coal.

EPA Goes After Biological Methane

The EPA is planning on licensing fees aimed at livestock operations with more than 100 tons of carbon emissions per year,  according to Nick Butterfield, speaking for the EPA, quoted by Bob Johnson, AP, published in the Washington Post. The farmers are against this. Ken Hamilton, of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation says it will cost owners of a modest sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 per year.  This seems correct – if you do the math, the fee is $30,000 for 172 dairy cows, which seems high.

The fee structure seems, to this non-farmer, high and skewed against dairy farmers. It reaches $30,000 per year with only 172 dairy cows, 343 head of beef cattle, and 1,500 hogs. But, by generating popular support against carbon emission regulations, this seems really designed to support the coal industry.

The fee structure:

  • Dairy Cows:     $175 per head, with 25 or more.
  • Beef Cattle:      $87.50 per head, with 50 or more.
  • Hogs:               $20 per head, with 200 or more.

Head of livestock for $30,000 annual fee:

  • Dairy Cows:     172
  • Beef Cattle:      343
  • Hogs:            1,500

While Popular Logistics understands that too much of American agriculture is non-sustainable, and while we are in favor of regulating carbon emissions, we would start with Coal, Nuclear, and factory farms, and increasing the CAFE standards and auto mileage requirements,  not by taxing modest ranches of 25 or 50 head of cattle. Popular Logistics also recognizes a distinction between carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels, the nuclear fuel cycle, and the environmental effects of mining, and carbon emissions from cattle ranching and hog farming, especially from organic farming.  We would therefore suggest that the EPA create a carbon offset program that would allow ranchers and hog farmers to offset the carbon emissions of their livestock with trees, wind turbines, and photovolotaic solar installations.

Progress in Manhattan underground rail link

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

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

New York City receives larger DHS grant for subway security

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:

Continue reading →

Celeste Monforton/Pump Handle: Crandall Canyon Disaster: Four Months Later

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.

Rats attempt to climb social ladder; seek parity with squirrels, lobby City Hall

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.

[singlepic=171,320,240,,left]

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.” Continue reading →

Chicago Tunnel Map

The Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad Map:

[photopress:Chiacgo_Railroad_Tunnel_courtesy_Phil_Okeefe.jpg,full,centered]

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.