Sunday, November 20, 2011

Walk This Way...


I took a walk down Second Avenue to have a look at the project on Friday, November 18th.

Here are the images that I thought to be noteworthy.


11/18/11
96th Street - looking N

In this series of images, the contractor, E.E. Cruz/Tully Construction Co. JV, can be seen lowering a reinforced steel cage into a trench that has been excavated for a section of slurry wall.

The steel cage provides the reinforcement for the concrete that will be poured into the trench after the cage has been set in place.

The slurry wall that is under construction at this work site will form the perimeter wall of the north end of the future 96th Street station.



11/18/11
96th Street, NE corner - looking W

The steel cage was lowered over a period of about 10 minutes, which allowed me plenty of time to capture the scene from a number of angles.



11/18/11
96th Street - looking N

As the cage was being lowered, the workers took care to make sure the cage did not "catch" on the side edges of the trench.



11/18/11



11/18/11

Note the worker on the left who is wearing a life jacket. One could assume that he is required to wear this safety device because the trench is full of liquid slurry mixture.



11/18/11

A snapshot of the scene -- through a section of patterned Second Avenue Subway construction fencing scrim.



11/18/11
96th Street - looking S

A backhoe at work.



11/18/11
95th Street - looking S

At this location, a crew is in the process of excavating the trench for another section of slurry wall.

Observe, just to the right of the worker with the yellow jacket, the specialized clamshell-shaped digger attached to this Liebherr HS 855 crane.



11/18/11
94th Street, SW corner

At this location, the contractor is in the process of relocating various utility and sewer lines. The yellow cord is used to suspend lines in the air while work is done below.

This work is being done in the vicinity of the location for Entrance No. 1 for the future 96th Street station.



11/18/11
93rd Street - looking S

The contractor, S3 Tunnel Constructors, is in the process of removing the vertical conveyor (the tall white structure in the image above) at this location.



11/18/11
86th Street, NE corner - looking E

At this location, I found that a new work zone had been set up on the north side of 86th Street, just to the east of Second Avenue.

Entrance No. 2 for the future 86th Street station will be constructed at this location.



11/18/11
86th Street, btw. 1st & 2nd - looking E

At this location, I observed a crew installing geotechnical monitoring equipment (e.g. retroreflectors) using an articulating boom lift.

The boom lift is made by the company JLG Industries.



11/18/11



11/18/11

The newly installed retroreflector can be seen on the west face of the edge of the brick facade, just below the roof line.

If you look around the MTA's work sites on Second Avenue, you can see that they have set up a very dense network of geotechnical monitoring devices on area buildings. These devices allow the MTA to detect even the smallest movements of the buildings themselves.

Clearly the MTA does not wish to take any chances, having learned a lesson back in 2009 when mining of the launch box had to be delayed due to structural problems with buildings near 92nd Street & Second Avenue.



11/18/11
btw. 84th & 83rd streets - looking S

It's still early in the afternoon, but I am already starting to lose the light on Second Avenue, with the sun setting to the west.



11/18/11
1592 Second Avenue (btw. 83nd & 83rd streets)

A pair of empty shops on Second Avenue.



11/18/11
btw. 82nd & 83rd street - looking NW

A section of fence line at the south end of the 86th Street station work zone.



11/18/11
72nd Street, looking E

The location of Entrance No. 3 for the future 72nd Street station.



11/18/11
70th Street - looking N

A view of the south entrance to the contractors' construction offices at this location.



11/18/11
69th Street - looking N

The orange device in this image is called a Dust Boss. (This is a trade name). The machine is used to reduce dust and odors in the area.

According the the manufacturers web site, it works by blanketing the area with a fine mist of water droplets. The ultra-fine mist is said to attract dust and odors by encapsulating airborne particles and driving them to the ground.



11/18/11
69th Street, just west of 2nd - looking N

Continued dismantling of the structure located at 235 East 69th Street. Ancillary building No. 2 for the future 72nd Street station will eventually be built in its place.



11/18/11
63rd Street, btw. 3rd & Lexington

This unremarkable image shows the steel cap that has been placed on top a test pit that was dug for the project.

Test bores (of rock) were taken from a great many locations around the work sites so that the engineers on the project could determine the exact consistency of the rock below grade.



11/18/11

At this location, I found a passageway that has been fitted with a set of brightly colored way-finding scrims.

The passage leads pedestrians around the work site that now exists on the NW corner of 63rd Street & 3rd Avenue.



11/18/11
63rd Street, btw. 3rd & Lexington

I found these scrims to be quite appealing to the eye.



11/18/11



11/18/11

The scrims tell you, using graphics instead of words, to "walk this way."


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MTA Capital Construction has announced that it will host a set of public workshops regarding Second Avenue Subway construction activity.

The first workshop has been scheduled for Wednesday, November 30th.



According to the MTA, the goal of these workshops is to, "keep the public informed on the latest updates around the Second Avenue Subway project, and to maintain an open, two-way dialogue between the MTA and the community at large."

Anyone wishing to attend must register in advance.

Here is a link to the web site that is being used to manage the registration for the workshop:
Second Avenue Subway Quarterly Public Workshop

Note that the event is open only to 200 registered people due to capacity limits at the venue.


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Here's a listing of the recent additions
to the right-hand column of The Launch Box

SAS Preliminary Air Quality Results
MTA Capital Construction
10/27/11

"Dust and Odors From 2nd Ave. Subway Project Worry Residents"
By Amy Zimmer
DNA.info - 11/11/11


Second Avenue Subway Quarterly Report - 3Q2011
MTA Capital Construction


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A Footnote:

As many readers of this blog most likely know, a worker was killed on the MTA's East Side Access project this past Thursday evening. The 26-year-old worker, Michael P. O’Brien, was a member of Laborers' Local Union No. 147, a.k.a. The Sandhogs.

According to the Daily News report of the accident, this was the first first time a Sandhog has been killed on the job since 1997.

The New York Times report of the accident can be found on this link:
"A Now-Rare Tunnel Accident Claims a Worker’s Life" - 11/18/11.

The death or injury of any worker on any work site should remind us all of human cost that tragically comes as part of complex construction projects.