Surveying the Work

Most of the images that follow were taken last Friday on an unusually warm spring morning. They provide a fresh look at some of the ongoing work on the project.



3/23/12
63rd & 3rd - NE corner

A surveyor at work.

I like this picture because it shows a project worker whose skill set is different from the workers I more regularly profile here (i.e. the guys who dig the tunnels, drive the machines and haul away the muck). It takes a lot of different people to build a new subway.



3/23/12
63rd & 3rd - NE corner looking S

If you look carefully, you can see the other member of this survey team. (He is the guy standing just past the crosswalk sign on the far corner holding the level rod.)

Unfortunately, there is not much I can show now in and around the Lexington Ave/63rd Street station site since almost all of the work is taking place underground.



3/23/12
87th Street - NW corner looking SE

Up at the 86th Street station site, the contractor is in the process of assembling the two muck houses - one between 83rd & 84th streets and the other between 86th & 87th streets.

These structures will house the machinery that will be used to haul the muck out of the station cavern that, eventually, will be mined at this location.



3/21/12
Courtesy of Bruce Martin
87th Street - NE corner looking S

This shot was taken from an apartment terrace with a nice view of the work site.

Iron workers in this image are in the process of assembling the steel superstructure of the muck house.



3/23/12
86th Street - looking N



3/23/12
86th Street - looking N

The workers in the middle of the image were dealing with a utility line.



3/8/12
Courtesy of Bruce Martin
87th Street - NE corner looking N

Just north of 87th Street, the contractor will setup a set of temporary trailers that will be used by the Sandhogs for showering and changing. The building is commonly referred to, by the Sandhogs, as the Hog House.

In this image you can see a set of twenty cement footings for the trailers.



3/15/12 11:50 a.m.
Courtesy of Bruce Martin
One of the trailers being lowered onto the new footings.



3/15/12 3:21 p.m.
Courtesy of Bruce Martin
The second level of the Hog House is lowered into place.



3/17/12
Courtesy of Bruce Martin

The now completed Hog House.



3/23/12
87th Street - NW corner looking W

This is a temporary heating and hot water boiler for an apartment building. Boilers like this are set up when it is necessary for the building owner to take the main boiler out of service for an extended period of time.

It is my understanding that this temporary boiler has been put in service so that work can be done on the boiler in the building that is located on the NW corner of 86th Street and 2nd Avenue. A part of this building (where the former Chase branch was located) will become the site of Ancillary Building No. 2 for the 86th Street station.

Most likely the boiler in this building has to moved and/or reconfigured to make room for the equipment that will be installed in support of the subway project.



3/23/12
btw. 83rd & 84th streets - looking E

A large exhaust fan. This fan will probably be used to provide ventilation of the cavern and tunnels below once they start excavating the station cavern.



3/23/12
btw. 70th & 71st streets - looking S

A view of the 72nd Street muck house with a blooming tree in the foreground.



3/23/12
btw. 68th & 69 streets - looking E

This image shows a concrete pumping station just south of 69th Street. Fresh concrete is delivered to this location and then it is pumped to the work site underground in the station cavern deep below Second Avenue.



3/23/12

A closeup of the concrete pumping operation.



3/23/12
near 95th Street

The jaws of TEC Baya diaphram wall excavator take a rest, waiting for their next job.



3/23/12
near 94th Street

Utility work near the future location of Entrance No. 2 to the 96th Street station.



3/23/12
63rd Street - btw. 3rd & Lex - looking E

Now on the way back to the subway -- an image of the warm morning sunlight shining through the blossoming trees.

And finally, three recent images from the MTA's Flickr Photostream. These images, from inside the 72nd Street station cavern, were taken by the MTA's staff photographer Patrick J. Cashin.



3/20/12
Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick J. Cashin

This image appears to have been taken from the north end of the cavern, looking south.

A section of the east tunnel, that was mined last year by the TBM, can be seen on the left. Eventually this section of tunnel will disappear, as the rock around it is completely removed during the excavation of the station cavern.



3/20/12
Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick J. Cashin



3/20/12
Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick J. Cashin

This is the three-block-long 72nd Street station cavern, as it looked about a week ago.

This interesting report was recently posted in the Federal Transit Administrations' Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room in the Frequently Requested Records section.

Project Management Oversight Contractor Monthly Report
Second Avenue Subway Phase 1
Prepared by Urban Engineers of New York for
the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
January 2012

Unfortunately, much of the report was redacted by the DOT prior to its release. Portions of text were blacked out in accordance with an exemption that exists under the Freedom of Information Act.

The exemption that was used in this case "applies to information such as trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a company on a privileged or confidential basis which, if released, would result in competitive harm to [the company]" which in this case I assume is the MTA and/or its contractors.

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

Second Ave. Dust Sagas: OSHA finds silica
By Benjamin Kabak
2nd. Ave. Sagas - 3/20/12

"Lung hazard at 2nd Ave. Subway"
By Jennifer Fermino
NY Post - 3/19/12

"An Underground Look at New York’s Second Avenue Subway "
By Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times - 3/12/12


The MTA's Second Avenue Subway Newsletter
Issue II - March 2012:

Lexington Ave/63rd St Station Area

72nd St Station Area

86th St Station Area

96th St Station Area