So, there are two of those deep underground water tunnels, one which runs down from the Bronx through Manhattan and another that runs from the Bronx through Queens and Brooklyn. These tunnels were completed in 1917 and 1935 respectively. How they managed to do this then is beyond me.
Currently a third tunnel is being built and apparently it's "the largest construction project in New York history". The project was begun in 1970 and won't finish until 2020. It cost 6 billion. When the third tunnel comes online, it will allow for the other two tunnels to be shut down for repairs for the first time in their history. Scenes from Die Hard were filmed in Tunnel 3.
This is big, long-term stuff folks. Makes me feel kind of proud of civilization.
>Generations of sandhogs have accepted anonymity and danger as part of the job: 25 percent of those working on a tunnel in 1890 lost their lives; during a three-year stretch excavating Tunnel No. 2, 60 died. That’s three men for every mile of tunnel. Although the introduction in 1970 of a 13,200-volt pneumatic drill that sinks 10-foot holes into the rock has reduced the dangers facing the sandhogs, excavation of the first 25 miles of City Water Tunnel No. 3 cost the lives of 23 workers.
The divers have to go so deep they need to live in helium tanks for more than a month, to make sure that their blood is sufficiently saturated with the gas. The helium is the only way they can dive deep enough, and yes, it does make their voices high pitched the entire time they are in there.
What are those tunnels and whats the purpose behind them? Also -- why so deep -- 800ft? I think (and may be wrong) digging them shallower would be cheaper. 6B vs f.e. 4B -- that's a lot of cheddar.
Also, someone mentioned "garbage" being underground citizen. I think that's wrong. While we have water, electricity and sewage running underground, the fact that garbage is not a part of this rail is really dissapointing. If you live upper west side, try to walk some broadway on a very hot day, before Thursday's garbage pickup. Your eyes will run wet from all the stink from garbage mountains packed everywhere. Literally there are streets where kids are forbidden to be outside because of all the smell and I assume airborne crap. Note, of course you won't see it downtown (the tourist area) where trash is picked up every day. Why there is no major garbage shute system across the city, no idea...
A must-read on the water tunnel project underneath NY is David Grann's article for the New Yorker 'City of Water'[1]. Mind-blowing engineering project, especially the two old tunnels and their inability to repair them. It is one of the most read and most requested stories in the recent history of the New Yorker.
The article was syndicated in his book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, which is worth a read[2].
The greatest depth shown in that graphic is 800 feet. At 10-12 feet per floor, that's equal to the height of a 67-80 story skyscraper. This means Manhattan has a 'mirror-image' city under the ground -- its 'citizens' are electric power, water, gas, and trash.
And if you like that, you'll REALLY love Brian Hayes' Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape (http://www.amazon.com/Infrastructure-Field-Guide-Industrial-...). It's porn for people who like to try to figure out what the random towers in a chemical plant do, or how the electrical station you just passed on the interstate works.
Nice image, but if you want to really have fun with a kid dig up the book "Underground" by David Macaulay. It peels back the layers beneath our feet and was a real eye-opener for me when I was younger. Actually grab anything by the same author and have fun...
I read an article, some years ago, about the problems of getting subterranean tunnels at a depth greater than 100 foot approved. As part of the process the plans get submitted to the security services, who then say "yes" or "no"; and you only get three attempts. I can't find the article (or anything similar) so maybe it's just myth.
The Moscow subways are beautiful, but when I went (April '86) you were not allowed to take any photographs.
I'm fascinated by the complex networks of public tunnels, secret tunnels, and abandoned tunnels.
Now taking photographs in Moscow subway ('metro') is allowed, and groups of tourists with cameras could be seen on most picturesque stations when I last visited it in 2011.
Next to all the granite and marble, large bulkhead doors can be seen in many passages there. Currently all are open and not very visible, but certainly intended to insulate stations in a case of emergency, such as a nuclear attack.
I'm no civil engineer, but why are the sewage tunnels above the clean water tunnels? If there were a leak, wouldn't the sewage seep into the clean water? Or is the clay thick enough to provide a good barrier?
Oddly they've taken out the (c) 1997 part, maybe to make it not seem as ancient? I suppose it's still reasonably relevant; not much of this basic information has changed. Heck, Water Tunnel #3 is still under construction.
I'm pretty sure the audio is RealAudio encoded though can't confirm as I don't have the codec installed (does anyone anymore?). This is just a guess based on the .ram file extension.
Still cool to see how engaging you can make a site using 10-15 year old technology. Content is king.
Its a fascinating picture. I'd love to see one of the Bay Area, one of the cable technicians installing yet another fiber down the road outside our office joked that if you put big rockets at PAIX and MAE-WEST and launched, they would lift 'silicon valley' [1] into space on a net of fiber optic cables.
Of course no mention of "Beauty and the Beast" [2] which took place in a pretty fanciful world under New York city.
Given the expense these days of tunneling I wonder if we've reached a peak of complexity underground for now.
[1] Actually only the parts between San Jose and Palo Alto but it was the imagery not the accuracy they were going for.
Naive question, but are things like power, gas, water, TV cables and steam always buried like this (requiring digging to make repairs or modifications), or are there cities/systems where they are laid in human-accessible tunnels? Seems like it would be more practical, albeit more expensive.
In Helsinki they have human accessible tunnels because the whole city is on bedrock and there is not much soil above it. It's just way too hard to make tunnels to rock so small that people can't go there, so they're forced to be more accessible.
Tv, gas and power can be digged relatively shallow and I have not hear of maintenance tunnels for them when there is no solid rock to deal with.
With sewers they usually put vertical wells to it in every corner. That makes the whole system more accessible.
Often they put empty plastic tubes to new buildings just in case. It's not very hard to get something crawling there when new Internet comes to house.
For those interested in this sort of stuff, there is a documentary called Dark Days that's all about the homeless people who live in the NYC subway system. It was available on iTunes the last time I checked.
Steam pipes are pretty common and can be quite economical. Besides New York, you'll find them in Seattle, San Francisco, and a number of other large cities in the US, as well as all over Europe. On a small scale, a number of institutions run them as well - IIT in Chicago, for example, has a central steam plant.
I love how this is both informative, very cool and a complete Internet relic. I can't remember the last time I saw a message where I had to choose whether I had Shockwave or not to continue. Nice find!
Well, of course. The subway system varies in depths from above-ground to hundreds of feet in the ground (I think Roosevelt Island, on the F line, is the deepest subway station).
[+] [-] msutherl|13 years ago|reply
Currently a third tunnel is being built and apparently it's "the largest construction project in New York history". The project was begun in 1970 and won't finish until 2020. It cost 6 billion. When the third tunnel comes online, it will allow for the other two tunnels to be shut down for repairs for the first time in their history. Scenes from Die Hard were filmed in Tunnel 3.
This is big, long-term stuff folks. Makes me feel kind of proud of civilization.
[+] [-] DanBC|13 years ago|reply
3 men per mile died digging tunnel number 1 - 25% of the workers.
(http://www.flypmedia.com/content/life-underground)
>Generations of sandhogs have accepted anonymity and danger as part of the job: 25 percent of those working on a tunnel in 1890 lost their lives; during a three-year stretch excavating Tunnel No. 2, 60 died. That’s three men for every mile of tunnel. Although the introduction in 1970 of a 13,200-volt pneumatic drill that sinks 10-foot holes into the rock has reduced the dangers facing the sandhogs, excavation of the first 25 miles of City Water Tunnel No. 3 cost the lives of 23 workers.
[+] [-] jontas|13 years ago|reply
The divers have to go so deep they need to live in helium tanks for more than a month, to make sure that their blood is sufficiently saturated with the gas. The helium is the only way they can dive deep enough, and yes, it does make their voices high pitched the entire time they are in there.
[0] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/nyregion/23tunnel.html?pag...
[+] [-] joering2|13 years ago|reply
Also, someone mentioned "garbage" being underground citizen. I think that's wrong. While we have water, electricity and sewage running underground, the fact that garbage is not a part of this rail is really dissapointing. If you live upper west side, try to walk some broadway on a very hot day, before Thursday's garbage pickup. Your eyes will run wet from all the stink from garbage mountains packed everywhere. Literally there are streets where kids are forbidden to be outside because of all the smell and I assume airborne crap. Note, of course you won't see it downtown (the tourist area) where trash is picked up every day. Why there is no major garbage shute system across the city, no idea...
[+] [-] hkmurakami|13 years ago|reply
Compare this to the ~$10 billion for the California High Speed Rail project, which doesn't seem nearly as important as this NYC project.
[+] [-] nikcub|13 years ago|reply
The article was syndicated in his book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, which is worth a read[2].
[1] http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/09/01/030901fa_fact_gr...
[2] http://www.amazon.com/The-Devil-Sherlock-Holmes-Obsession/dp...
[+] [-] cs702|13 years ago|reply
I can't help but be in awe.
[+] [-] maratd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tubbo|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Tashtego|13 years ago|reply
And if you like that, you'll REALLY love Brian Hayes' Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape (http://www.amazon.com/Infrastructure-Field-Guide-Industrial-...). It's porn for people who like to try to figure out what the random towers in a chemical plant do, or how the electrical station you just passed on the interstate works.
[+] [-] _delirium|13 years ago|reply
Tangential, but that phrasing reminds me of this article: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3390719
[+] [-] d0ugal|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] potatolicious|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] evgen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|13 years ago|reply
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527202/How-top-secret-tunne...)
I read an article, some years ago, about the problems of getting subterranean tunnels at a depth greater than 100 foot approved. As part of the process the plans get submitted to the security services, who then say "yes" or "no"; and you only get three attempts. I can't find the article (or anything similar) so maybe it's just myth.
The Moscow subways are beautiful, but when I went (April '86) you were not allowed to take any photographs.
I'm fascinated by the complex networks of public tunnels, secret tunnels, and abandoned tunnels.
[+] [-] nine_k|13 years ago|reply
Next to all the granite and marble, large bulkhead doors can be seen in many passages there. Currently all are open and not very visible, but certainly intended to insulate stations in a case of emergency, such as a nuclear attack.
[+] [-] gklitt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gee_totes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] axefrog|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _delirium|13 years ago|reply
Oddly they've taken out the (c) 1997 part, maybe to make it not seem as ancient? I suppose it's still reasonably relevant; not much of this basic information has changed. Heck, Water Tunnel #3 is still under construction.
[+] [-] sehrope|13 years ago|reply
Still cool to see how engaging you can make a site using 10-15 year old technology. Content is king.
[+] [-] ilija139|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|13 years ago|reply
Of course no mention of "Beauty and the Beast" [2] which took place in a pretty fanciful world under New York city.
Given the expense these days of tunneling I wonder if we've reached a peak of complexity underground for now.
[1] Actually only the parts between San Jose and Palo Alto but it was the imagery not the accuracy they were going for.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_%281987_T...
[+] [-] lobster_johnson|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nosse|13 years ago|reply
Tv, gas and power can be digged relatively shallow and I have not hear of maintenance tunnels for them when there is no solid rock to deal with.
With sewers they usually put vertical wells to it in every corner. That makes the whole system more accessible.
Often they put empty plastic tubes to new buildings just in case. It's not very hard to get something crawling there when new Internet comes to house.
[+] [-] Alex3917|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yskchu|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rprime|13 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system
[+] [-] tallanvor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] siculars|13 years ago|reply
http://talk.nycsubway.org/perl/read?subtalk=589316
[+] [-] jyturley|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kine|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] evansolomon|13 years ago|reply
http://vimeo.com/18280328
[+] [-] natesm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gk1|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmhdlr|13 years ago|reply
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/
[+] [-] donohoe|13 years ago|reply
Its a timeless page.