Second Avenue Subway TBM Drills Through Wall
into Lexington Avenue/63rd Street Station
Moments ago, at 11:28 a.m., the tunnel boring machine that had been mining the east tunnel of the Second Avenue Subway reached its final destination. It successfully broke through a rock cavern wall, into open air, deep inside the Lexington Avenue/63rd Street station.
Here you can see the rear wall being watered down, to minimize airborne particles in anticipation of the imminent breakthrough of the TBM.
As the machine's cutterhead broke through the rock cavern wall the assembled crowd cheered loudly to celebrate the momentous occasion.
I was fortunate to witness this historic event -- more than 80 years in the making. A full report, with plenty of pictures, will be posted this evening. Stay tuned.
Update 9/22/11
A full report from the TBM Breakthrough event
can be found on this link:
Subway Infrastructure Milestone Achieved
The Launch Box
9/22/11
4 comments:
That's great. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures tonight.
NOW, let's see when it gets finished altogether. WINS-AM radio still says 2016, apparently meaning that they accept the MTA's prediction rather than the Federal government's prediction of 2018.
Fantastic!
If only this good news could help push for funding for the future phases of the project.
What will happen to the TBM? I hope that it will not be buried like the East Side access was.
Was any though given to mothballing it in one of the tails for use in later phases?
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