March 6, 2008

A few spurious editorial comments on this chilly Thursday
evening in March.

As some people may have noticed, I've now come in contact with Second Avenue Business Association. (SABA)

This grassroots organization, made up of local business owners in the Launch Box construction area, came together late last year to call attention to the serious impact that the construction is having on their businesses.

The SABA quickly got the attention of numerous political leaders, including Assemblymen Jonathan Bing and Micah Kellner, Council members Daniel Garodnick and Jessica Lappin, State Senator Krueger, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the Office of the Mayor -- and the MTA and Skanska (the lead contractor.)

SABA members meet weekly with representatives of MTA Capital Construction, Skanska, DOT and the Office of the Mayor. (You can find the minutes of their meetings in the right hand column in this blog.)

One member of the SABA provided a wonderful overview of the group's efforts at last Monday's Community Board 8 Second Avenue Subway (SAS) Task Force Meeting. Afterwards I heard some in the auditorium wonder out loud how it was that they (the SABA) had made so much progress so quickly, while others in the community seemingly struggled to get their voices and concerns addressed.

I've also been struck by how organized the business owners are, with their weekly meetings -- while members of the community-at-large have to rely on the CB8 Second Avenue Task Force, which at the moment only seems to meet every 3 months!

- - -

This is a bit off topic... but here are two web links that I became aware of today with pictures of the construction activity in and around one of the MTA's other big projects - East Side Access:

http://frumin.net/ation/2007/12/i_know_a_guy.html

http://gothamist.com/2007/06/12/mta_lowers_bori.php

Why is this relevant you might ask (unless you're really interested in tunnel boring machines) -- because, in about a year or so, this is close to what it will look like inside the 2nd Avenue Subway Launch Box and under 2nd Avenue.

BUT -- the big difference is that the 2nd Avenue Subway Launch Box will be decked over so you won't be able to see what's going on deep down (80 feet) at the bottom of the hole.

Oh, and in case your were wondering what exactly a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) looks like...



Source:
http://smogr.com/2007/11/tunnel_boring_machine_begins_boring_under_man.html

- - -

Last Friday morning at about 7:30 AM, on my way to the subway, I stopped to take a few pictures while standing at the corner of 94th and 2nd.

A woman walked by me and then stopped, and turned to me, and said, "are you the guy with the subway blog?"

I said, "Yes. You've seen it?"

She paused and then said, "You're too nice." We had a brief conversation and then I hurried on my way.

Am I too nice? (with respect to this Blog?)

My view is that I'm not trying to be nice, or mean, or confrontational, or difficult, or one-sided, and I'm really not even trying to make some point.

My goal is simple -- I want to show others, using this medium, what is going on in my neighborhood and I want to do this in a fair and objective way.

- - -

Finally -- the DEP is scheduled to shut off the water, as part of this project, to my building at 10 PM tonight. (As of this hour, 11:40 PM, the tap is dry.)

They say it will be back on by 6 AM...

Ben
Second Avenue subway Second Ave subway 2nd Avenue subway 2nd Ave subway Launch Box Subway Launch Box New York Launch Box subway construction

March 2, 2008

92nd, in the middle of 2nd avenue - looking E
In front of Delizia
Note the large concrete & asphalt saw - on the right.



92nd, NE corner - looking S
A maze of fencing has sprung up at this location in the past week.



92nd, near the SE corner - looking NW



same location - 2 days earlier
This image, and the one before it, give you an idea how quickly work is progressing.



91st - looking N
Traffic (3-4 lanes depending on time of day, and day of the week) now flows on the west side of 2nd avenue, while construction work progresses on the east side of the avenue.



another view - from the SW corner of 91st



94th - looking S
Note the 4 old brick foundations that have recently been uncovered in the center of 2nd avenue between 93rd and 94th. These very well could be original support foundations from the old 2nd Avenue elevated railway line.



a closer view of one of the brick foundations.
Note the bolts(?) on the top that appear to have been cut off. One might guess that these bolts were used to affix a vertical beam to the brick foundation -- like the beams shown in the photo below.

Update - 03/06/2008
These old foundations are now gone...




93rd(?) & 2nd avenue - looking N
The 2nd Avenue El - 92nd street station - ca. 1940

Image source:
http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/2ndave-el.html

February 29, 2008

btw. 91st & 92nd, E side of 2nd avenue - looking N
The work area was shifted to the east side of 2nd avenue earlier this week, on Monday, February 25th.



92nd and 2nd avenue, SE corner - looking N
The rigs (2 shown) are drilling core samples of the bedrock below the surface.



93rd and 2nd Avenue - looking N
The pavement has been removed in the center of 2nd avenue and workers are excavating so that they can begin the process to remove the 48" sewer main in the middle of the street.







95th & 2nd avenue - looking S
The right hand traffic lane normally would be open during the rush hour, allowing 4 lanes of traffic, but today (at 7.30 AM) Verizon had some work that they needed to do.



95th & 2nd Avenue
The sidewalk on the west side of the avenue has been restored -- at a reduced width of 7 feet. Note that access to the building cellars was not restored when the new sidewalk was layed down. One would hope that cellar access will be restored once the sidewalk is returned to it's normal width.

February 28, 2008

Work on 2nd Avenue, at the Launch Box site, was shifted to the east side of the avenue on Monday, February 25th. A lot is happening right now and I'll will post a new set of pictures by Sunday evening March 2nd.

I also noticed today that the food market Zeytinia, at 1824 2nd Avenue has now closed. I'll post a picture of the store in the "Vacant Stores in the Area" section on Sunday.

Ben