Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Contract C-26008
Recently, the bid results for the contract covering the second phase of the 86th Street station construction were made public - and here are the results.
Bid/Contract Number: C-26008 (also known as Contract 5B)
86th Street Cavern Mining & Heavy Civil Works
Vendor Name - Bid Amount
1. Skanska/Traylor JV - $301,860,000
2. Conti/J.H. Reid JV - $334,777,433
3. Shea/Kiewit/Schiavone - $391,717,426
4. Barnard/Judlau JV - $453,631,980
5. Granite/Yonkers/SK JV - $460,443,000
A source told me that MTA's engineers expected the bids for this contract to come in at around $400 million. As such, the MTA surely must be pleased that the competitive bidding process for this contract produced such a good bid.
The joint venture partners for the low bid are Skanska and Traylor Brothers, two major players in the market for civil engineering construction and infrastructure projects. Skanska already has extensive experience working on this project, as one of the three contractors building the SAS tunnels and launch box structure.
Contract C-26008 includes, among other things:
- mining of the 86th Street station cavern as well as mine shafts and adits for the entrances, ancillaries and cross passages;
- building demolition work at 83rd and 86th streets in advance of work on the construction of entrances and ancillaries;
- underpinning of existing buildings adjacent to the ancillaries and
Entrance 1;
- the construction of the permanent structure from station invert level to the top of ground level;
- restoration of the surface of Second Avenue and cross streets which will also include the restoration of roads, sidewalks, and soft and hard landscaping.
Further contract details can be found on this link to the MTA's Invitation For Bid Notice.
At the last meeting of the CB8 Second Avenue Subway Task Force, the MTA said that they expect to award this contract in April or May 2011 with construction to start sometime during the summer.
The MTA's Capital Program Dashboard, on the MTA's website, shows that a total of $325,643,165 is currently allocated for this particular contract:
2005-2009 Capital Program - Current Budget - $47,033,768
2010-2014 Capital Program - Current Budget - $278,609,397
What is not clear at the moment is (a) where all of the money for this contract will come from, since only the first two years of the 2010-2014 Capital Program are currently funded, and (b) how the recent lawsuit (to block the planned construction of station entrances on the north side of 86th Street - Yorkshire Towers LP vs. DOT et al) will affect this contract.
::
In other news, a group of students from Hunter College Department of Urban Affairs and Planning is working on a project, together with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's office, to examine the subway construction on Second Avenue. The research will include the subway construction's impact on the community, lessons learned, etc.
The students are interviewing key figures involved in the project, and have already conducted one-on-one interviews with representatives of the Community Board 8 Second Avenue Subway Task Force, the MTA, Second Avenue Business Association and local senior centers.
They are also asking members of the community to take a few moments to fill out a short online survey so that they can gain additional insight in to the project.
A direct link to the survey can be found on this web link:
Hunter College Second Avenue Subway Survey
Please note that the deadline for participating in the survey is
Friday, March 18th.
::
This just in:
Mining of the east tunnel (i.e. TBM Run No. 2) is expected to commence during the last few days of March 2011.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Another View
It's safe to say that I'm not the only person taking pictures of the construction work on Second Avenue.
Often when I'm out walking, I observe people stopping to look at the ongoing construction work. They often pause to get a closer look at the machines, and men and women, who are working daily to build the new line. Many people bring along their kids, who never seem to tire of watching the complex operations.
Sometimes, I observe people using a mobile phone or camera to capture what they see. Why they do this is not always clear. Maybe to augment their memory, or maybe to share on sites like Facebook, or maybe just because they feel they should take a picture. Surely most of the shots they take won't be mounted in albums, or even printed!
I remember well the evening last spring when they lowered the cutterhead for the TBM down into the launch box. On that warm evening, almost everyone who was out and about stopped to watch what was happening, and take pictures -- including me.
Recently I discovered, on the Internet, that photographer David Beckerman (www.beckermanphoto.com) also has been out taking pictures of the scene on Second Avenue.
With his permission, I've posted a few of Beckerman's images for others to enjoy. (If you click on any image, you will be taken to David's blog where you can read more about a particular photograph.)
"Become Your Dream"
Photograph by David Beckerman
Photograph by David Beckerman
Photograph by David Beckerman
"Delivery on Second Avenue"
Photograph by David Beckerman
"2nd Avenue Subway, Scaffold"
Photograph by David Beckerman
Photograph by David Beckerman
Photograph by David Beckerman
Photograph by David Beckerman
Additional images, taken by other photographers, can be found in the Second Avenue Subway Construction Pool on the Flickr web site.
Going forward, I'm planning to incorporate yet more images from other photographers on this blog, so stay tuned.
::
Here's a link to MTA Capital Construction's 4Q2010 report to Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which was recently posted on the MTA's web site:
Second Avenue Subway, Phase I Quarterly Report to the FTA
MTA Capital Construction
4Q2010
This 27-page reports includes a great deal of detail on the project, as one might expect.
After looking through the report, I pulled out the following highlights that I thought readers of this blog might be interested in:
- The forecast date for revenue service on the new line under Second Avenue remains December 30th, 2016.
- The current schedule includes 176 calendar days of schedule contingency(*). This is an eight day improvement over the 168 day number detailed in the 3Q2010 FTA report.
- The Final Design of the remaining contracts, for Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway, has now been submitted by MTACC's Designer - which means that the project's design phase is now complete.
(*) Schedule contingency is planned extra duration in the schedule to allow for unexpected delays.
Here's a copy of the current Schedule and Proposed Schedule for the project:
Quarterly Reports to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
Second Avenue Subway, Phase I, page 21
MTA Capital Construction
4Q2010
::
Elsewhere on the MTA's web site, I came across a new 24 month Look-ahead schedule for the project:
Capital Program Milestones 2010-2014, page 37
MTA Capital Construction
as of January 1, 2010
::
To shift gears - just a bit - away from the schedules and the plans and the charts...
Have you ever wondered what kind of job titles might apply to the men and women whose job it is to work down in the tunnels?
Here's a job title listing that I came across a few weeks ago for the so called Free Air Tunnel Workers, a.k.a. The Sandhogs.
Maintenance Men
Inside Muck Lock Tenders
Pump Men
Electricians
Cement Finishers
Caulkers
Hydraulic Men
Shield Men
Monorail Operators
Motor Men
Conveyor Men
Powder Carriers
Pan Men
Riggers
Chuck Tenders
Track Men
Painters
Nippers
Brakemen
Cable Men
Hose Men
Grout Men
Gravel Men
Form Workers
Concrete Workers
Tunnel Laborers
Mole Nipper
(I'd love to know what a Mole Nipper does.)
:::::
Here's a listing of the recent additions
to the right-hand column of The Launch Box
Capital Investment Program Project Profile - 11/10
Second Avenue Subway - 11/2010
Federal Transit Administration
Monday, February 21, 2011
Shop 2nd Avenue
The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and MTA Capital Construction hosted a press conference on February 11th. The well attended event celebrated the launch of a new campaign: “Shop Second Avenue...It’s Worth It!"
The campaign intends to affirm that Second Avenue’s shops, restaurants and neighborhood businesses are open for business during the construction of the Second Avenue subway.
As part of the marketing campaign, a Shop Second Avenue MetroCard will be released in April. The card will be available in all Lexington Avenue 4/5/6 stations from 51st Street to 103rd Street, as well as in the N/Q/R Line stations located at Lexington Avenue/59th Street and 5th Avenue/59th Street and the Lexington Avenue/63rd Street F Line Station.
Promotional Shop Second Avenue signage will also be introduced in subway stations and bus lines to promote the Second Avenue corridor as a shopping and dining destination.
A more detailed report of this event can be found in the posting "Beautifying a construction site along Second Ave." on the blog 2nd Ave. Sagas.
A few images from the press conference follow:
2/11/11
Nancy Ploeger, president, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; Jeffrey Bernstein, chair, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction; Assembly Member Jonathan L. Bing, and Council Member Dan Garodnick.
2/11/11
2/11/11
As part of the campaign, MTA Capital Construction unveiled its so-called "model block” concept on Second Avenue between East 92nd and 93rd streets.
The prototype block portrays an environment with fence wrapping; new and improved fencing and repainted barriers; safety improvements to sight lines for pedestrians and vehicles; a large Shop Second Avenue advertisement on the muck conveyor structure; and on each corner, pedestrian way-finding signage that lists the businesses located on the block.
2/11/11
East 92nd, NE corner - looking W
Council Member Dan Garodnick (on the left) listens as MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu explains the new way-finding signage.
2/11/11
btw. 92nd and 93rd streets - looking E
MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu holds an impromptu press conference of his own in front of the muck tower to answer reporters' questions.
2/11/11
92nd, NE corner - looking W
In this image you can see the roadway delineators, made by the company Flexstake, that have been set up to separate the roadway from the pedestrian path through the work zone at 92nd Street.
2/11/11
This is a closeup shot of the mesh fence wrapping that is being used in the model block.
2/11/11
93rd Street, SE corner - looking W
2/11/11
93rd Street - looking SE
::
After the press conference, I took a walk down Second Avenue, starting at 101st Street, to have a look at the various work sites. Here is what I observed --
2/11/11
99th Street - looking S
The contractor at this location is continuing to relocate utilities on the west side of Second Avenue.
2/11/11
btw. 97th and 99th streets - looking E
A nice example of the maze of utility lines that must be relocated in this area under Second Avenue.
2/11/11
97th Street, NE corner - looking SW
A view from across Second Avenue of the site of the former Century Lumber yard. This site will eventually be transformed into Ancillary Building No. 2 for the 96th Street station.
The large, yellow mobile drilling rig shown in this image is being used to install secant piles at this location.
2/11/11
97th Street, just west of 2nd Ave - looking E
A different view of the same site.
2/11/11
The workers in the image are lowering a tremie pipe, with a funnel on the top, into a hole. Wet concrete will soon be poured into the funnel to fill part of the secant pile that is under construction.
2/11/11
The worker in this image is performing various tests on the wet concrete to confirm its consistency.
2/11/11
just N of 96th Street - looking S
More utility relocation work.
btw. 91st & 92nd streets - looking W
The ground freeze process continues at this location on Second Avenue - in preparation for the start of TBM Run No. 2 (the east tunnel).
2/11/11
84th Street, NE corner - looking S
Material is delivered to the work site.
2/11/11
83rd Street, SW corner - looking N
A pedestrian's view of the maze of fencing in this area.
2/11/11
73rd Street - looking S
The access shaft near 72nd Street can be seen, if you look carefully, in the distance. (It's in front of the mobile crane.) Dust, visible in this image and the image below, was billowing out of the shaft when I took these images.
2/11/11
A closeup shot, with the dust clearly in view now.
2/11/11
259 E 72nd Street
This sign was posted in the window of Falk Surgical Supply. They have had to move so that their building can be taken down to make room for an entrance and ancillary building for the 72nd Street station.
2/11/11
259 E 72nd Street, NW corner
A view of the inside of the former Falk Surgical Supply shop.
::
In other news:
- Community Board 8's Second Avenue Subway Task Force met this past Tuesday evening. The MTA's presentation at this meeting can be found on this link:
Construction Update - 2/15/11
- The bids for the 86th Street station cavern contract (Ref: Contract C-26008) were opened on Februrary 4th. The MTA has announced that they are reviewing the bids and they expect to award the contract in April or May. Details of the bidding will be provided on the blog as soon as they are posted on the MTA Bid Results web page.
- The owner and tenants association of Yorkshire Towers, a rental apartment building at 315 East 86th Street, have filed a civil lawsuit against the DOT, FTA, and MTA to block the planned construction of station entrances on the north side of 86th Street in front of their building. A copy of the complaint can be found below.
For further reading I suggest having a look at Ben Kabak's report on the case on his blog 2nd Ave. Sagas.
Yorkshire Towers Co. L.P. v. US DOT et al ::::: Here's a listing of the recent additions to the right-hand column of The Launch Box Technical Memorandum No. 7: 72nd Street Station Entrance and Ancillary Facility Federal Transit Administration, DOT 12/15/10 "MTA Steps Up Efforts to Help Struggling Second Avenue Shops" By Amy Zimmer DNA.info - 2/11/11 "MTA Helps Launch Campaign To Help 2nd Ave Businesses" (0:58) NY1 - 2/12/11 Beautifying a construction site along Second Ave. 2nd Ave. Sagas - 2/14/11 By Benjamin Kabak "Upper East Side Building Sues MTA Over Planned Subway Entrances" By Amy Zimmer DNA.info - 2/16/11 Residents on 86th file suit over entrances, again 2nd Ave. Sagas - 2/18/11
By Benjamin Kabak
Monday, February 7, 2011
TBM RUN NO. 1 COMPLETE
S3 TUNNEL CONSTRUCTORS COMPLETE
TBM DRIVE FOR TUNNEL NUMBER ONE
Updated (10:00 p.m.)
Second Avenue Subway TBM Run No. 1 (the west tunnel) was completed on Saturday morning, February 5th at 4:30 a.m.
Workers are now in the process of partially disassembling the TBM so that it can be backed out of the tunnel over the next 4 - 5 weeks.
Once the 485-ton machine is backed out of the tunnel, it will be jacked from the west side of the launch box to the east side of the launch box. Then it will start Run No. 2 (the east tunnel).
The plan calls for the TBM to mine the east tunnel all the way to the existing 63rd Street / Lexington Avenue station - a distance of 7,840 feet. When it reaches this station, sometime in late 2011, we should expect a dramatic arrival at 63rd Street, when it breaks through the rock into the open air.
The contractor was not able to use the TBM to mine the west tunnel all the way to the 63rd Street / Lexington Avenue station because the radius of the turn at the end of the run would have been too tight for the machine to handle. This curve in the west tunnel will instead be mined using traditional methods, i.e. with explosives.
::
The MTA issued this press release on
Monday, February 7th with the news:
QUOTE
Excavation of West Tunnel for Second Avenue Subway Complete
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced the completion of the excavation of the west tunnel for Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway. To achieve this major milestone, a tunnel boring machine (TBM) mined
“Construction of this much-needed subway continues to move forward and this week marks another major accomplishment to transform New York as we know it,” said MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu. “These are tangible results that will not only expand our capacity but will also bring new economic activity and growth to Manhattan’s Upper East Side and points beyond.”
Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway will serve more than 200,000 people per day, reducing overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line and restoring a transit link to a neighborhood that lost the Second Avenue Elevated in 1940.
When Phase I is complete, it will decrease crowding on the adjacent Lexington Avenue Line by as much as 13%, or 23,500 fewer riders on an average weekday. It will also reduce travel times by up to 10 minutes or more (up to 27%) for those on the far east side or those traveling from the east side to west midtown.
The line is being built in phases, with the Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway providing service from 96th Street to 63rd Street as an extension of the Q train, three new ADA-accessible stations along Second Avenue at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets, and new entrances to the existing Lexington Av/63 Street Station at 63rd Street and Third Avenue. Further phases of the project will extend the line from 125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in the Financial District. The configuration of the tracks will allow for possible future extensions into Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
The Second Avenue Subway is one of four large-scale projects being built as the MTA undertakes the largest expansion of New York's public transportation system in two generations. The MTA is also connecting the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, extending the 7 subway line to the far west side, and building the Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan.
UNQUOTE
::
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney followed
later in the day with this News Release:
QUOTE
Maloney Cheers Completion of 1st Second Avenue Subway Tunnel
New York, NY – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) celebrated the news that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) 485-ton, 450-foot-long tunnel boring machine (TBM) had reached 63rd Street, completing the first tunnel for the Second Avenue Subway. On May 14, 2010, the MTA launched the TBM at 92nd Street. The TBM will now be disassembled, brought back to 92nd Street, reassembled and relaunched to dig the subway’s second tunnel.
“We’re starting to see real progress now that the tunnel boring machine has completed the first tunnel for the Second Avenue Subway. There’s still a lot of work to do, but that light at the end of the tunnel is growing ever-brighter now that this milestone has been reached. I congratulate the MTA and the construction team for getting us this far, and I look forward to celebrating the completion of the second tunnel,” said Maloney.
::
A recent set of images from inside the
west tunnel can be found on this link:
"A View Down Below - January 23, 2011"
:::::
Here's a listing of the recent additions
to the right-hand column of The Launch Box
(link no longer available)
"NYC Tunnel Tour - Part 1" (4:40)
By Aileen Cho and Luke Abaffy
Engineering News-Record - 1/11
"Freeze Ground, Thaw Hearts"
Engineering News-Record - 2/2/11
"Cavernous Crusades"
By Aileen Cho
Engineering News-Record - 2/2/11
ADI completes her western run under Second Ave.
By Benjamin Kabak
2nd. Ave Sagas - 2/7/11
Notice of Limitation on Claims
Against Proposed Public Transportation Projects
Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 11 - 1/18/11
This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for Second Avenue Subway Project. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject projects and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.
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