I ventured out this past Sunday in the cold weather. My goal was to find some festive decorations that would brighten up the blog during the holiday season.
This proved to be more difficult than I expected.
12/18/11
97th Street - looking N
A large Liebherr telescopic crawler crane sits idle in front of the Metropolitan Hospital Center. The crane is standing on top of sections of concrete decking.
This movable decking covers over a soon-to-be excavated cut-and-cover tunnel. During construction of the Second Avenue subway in the 1970s, 12-inch thick timber piles were used rather than concrete as a road decking material.
12/18/11
btw. 96th & 97th streets - looking W
This image was taken from a temporary pedestrian walkway that has been set up in the middle of Second Avenue. I found the walkways in this area a bit of a maze to navigate.
12/18/11
btw. 96th & 97th streets - looking S
The roadway at this location has been removed and most of the utilities have now been relocated. Soon the contractor will install a set of deck beams and concrete decking.
12/18/11
96th Street, NW corner - looking NE
Another view of the same location. The "squares" visible under the road surface are called "splice boxes." The deck beams that extend across Second Avenue will be bolted together inside these boxes.
12/18/11
just west of the NW corner of 96th Street - looking E
A decorated tree stands by the work site.
12/18/11
96th Street - looking S
Here you can see newly installed deck beams. Entrance No. 3 for the future 92nd Street station will be located here.
12/18/11
btw. 95th & 96th streets - looking S
A nice view of shadows in front of the Rite Aid.
12/18/11
95th Street - looking S
Looking south down the canyon of Second Avenue.
12/18/11
just South of 95th Street - looking E
This is an interesting scene. The current contractor (E. E. Cruz and Tully Construction) at this location appears to be breaking apart a section of the north wall of the TBM launch box that was built by the prior contractor (S3 Tunnel Constructors).
The portable yellow jackhammer, on the right side of the decking, is being used for the demolition of the wall.
12/18/11
btw. 90th & 91st streets - looking W
Across the street from the work site, residents purchase a Christmas tree.
12/18/11
btw. 91st & 92nd streets - looking SW
These sections of track have recently been removed from the east tunnel. Previously, the track had been used by the work train inside the tunnel.
12/18/11
86th Street - looking E
A view down the center of 86th Street. The contractor here has set up a work zone to prepare for the excavation for Entrance No. 2 of the station.
12/18/11
btw. 84th & 85th streets - looking S
Eight street lights placed in a cozy row.
One could assume that the contractor has relocated these decorative streetlights to this location for safe keeping.
12/18/11
btw. 72nd & 73rd streets - looking SE
A view of the 72nd Street muck house - with a newly extended vertical vent shaft. One could assume that the shaft has been extended so that the dust, smoke and odors from the underground blasting can [now] be vented well above street level.
It is possible that Santa will have some difficulty getting down this shaft on Christmas Eve -- since the shaft entrance is now located well above the roof line.
When the last work shift ends on Saturday, December 24th, perhaps the contractor might wish leave an 20-foot extension ladder atop the muck house for Santa's use.
12/18/11
72nd Street, NW corner - looking NE
Another view of the recently extended vent shaft. Note the protective filter cover on the end of the horizontal vent shaft.
12/18/11
just south of 72nd Street - looking E
If you look closely, you can see that the fire escape that was on the front of this building has recently been removed, probably with help of an oxyacetylene cutting torch.
This location will become Entrance No. 3 (a bank of five elevators) for the future 72nd Street station.
12/18/11
70th Street - looking S
I found a few more holiday lights in front of the Beach Cafe, opposite the 69th Street muck house.
12/18/11
70th Street - looking S
A view of the newly extended vent shaft at the 69th Street muck house.
12/18/11
70th Street - looking up
Look closely at this image and you can see that the contractor has used a kind of insulating foam to seal the gap between the steel beam and the muck house wall.
This most likely was done as an additional step to contain the smoke, dust and odors of the underground blasting inside the muck house.
12/18/11
69th Street, SW corner - looking NE
The 69th Street muck house in all its glory.
Visitors to Second Avenue must really wonder what in the world this structure is. Perhaps the MTA should consider placing some signage on these buildings to better inform passersby of the structures' purpose.
12/18/11
68th Street - looking N
And a final view of the scene on Second Avenue, looking North.
12/18/11
67th Street, btw. Lexington & 3rd Avenue - looking N
As I was walking towards the subway, I came across this NYC firehouse all decked out with a nice wreath for the holiday season.
::
In other news, the MTA's independent engineer McKissack+Delcan provided this report to the MTA Capital Program Oversight Committee earlier this week.
Quarterly Progress Report on the Second Avenue Subway &
Second Avenue Subway System Contract Risk Assessment
McKissack+Delcan
Report to the MTA Capital Program Oversight Committee (CPOC)
12/19/11
Notable highlights in the report include:
- The current schedule contingency is 66 days (which is not much considering there is still 5 more years to go on this project.)
- The current project cost contingency is $342 million, which is well above the $ 322 million planned budget contingency. (This is good news.)
- The lawsuit that Yorkshire Tower residents brought against the MTA has been
settleddecided in the MTA's favor. (see the note below.) According to the report, work can now proceed without delay on Entrance No. 2 of the 86th Street station.
Note: A pdf copy of the court's decision can be found on this link:
Memorandum & Decision,
Yorkshire Towers Company LP, et al vs. US DOT, et al
12/1/2011
:::::
Here's a listing of the recent additions
to the right-hand column of The Launch Box
"Underground Blasting Resumes On Second Avenue Subway"
By Tina Redwine
Video (1:36)
NY1 - 12/5/11
"DustBoss Saves $1 Million in Labor on Manhattan's 2nd Avenue Subway"
ForConstructionPros.com - 12/8/11
"Pounding Away"
By Allen Houston
Our Town - 12/14/11
::
Off Topic:
Rats Back in the News
Some readers of this blog may recall that I wrote a posting about rats, with the title "Rats!", back in May of 2010.
We'll, just in time for the holidays New York City's rats are back in the news.
"Special Delivery, With Teeth Marks"
By Andy Newman
The New York Times - 12/19/11
This is a wonderful little story about yet another problem at the U.S. Postal Service.
Season Greetings to All
Ben
3 comments:
Happy holidays to you, Ben! And keep up the great citizen journalism!
Happy New Year, looking forward to another year of enjoying your blog!
Phil S.
There more discussion of splice boxes and the process of decking over the avenue, one half at a time, at A Big Hole (which describes the 2008 construction of the launch box). As far as I can tell from the descriptions and photos, what they are doing now north of 96th street is similar to what they did south of 96th street then.
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