The average New York City commuter thinks nothing of an hour-long commute to and from work every day. Some of us at Canopy commute even longer than that. We don’t mind, but at the same time it could always be better, and it’s hard to see any way the city is trying to improve it. However, beneath our very feet, a massive construction project is taking place in the bedrock of the island of Manhattan that will become the biggest public transportation infrastructure project in the United States.
The East Side Access Project is the tunneling endeavor taking place 160 feet below Grand Central Terminal. The goal is to eventually connect the Long Island Railroad with Grand Central, creating much shorter commute times for some 160,000 commuters. The project is long from complete, expecting to see construction until some time in 2019, and needs to overcome some hefty obstacles before the first trains will make their way beneath the East River and into the brand new Grand Central Terminal LIRR Platform.
The first issue facing the construction is the creation of two 1,050 foot long caverns beneath Grand Central without disturbing the daily commute of the thousands who go through every day. The self-described “stealth project” is endeavoring to be as unobtrusive as possible. The second major issue is the Northern Boulevard Crossing, where the soft earth threatened to collapse, and engineers ran coolant through the ground to freeze it in place and allow the traffic to continue above the construction. The third issue is located at the Howard Interlocking, where rail traffic can’t be stopped for construction purposes. Between construction and daily trains, the work is “like a dance.”
The East Side Access Project has its roots in 1969, but its not going to be too long before it’s going to be ready for the multitude of commuters to make their way to the city. The newest pictures from the MTA show soaring caverns and new support equipment, all showing that there is steady, amazing progress being made.
What Sparks Our Fire: The dedicated and creative methods that the MTA is using to ease the commute for thousands of New Yorkers.
Will you benefit from the completion of the East Side Access Project?
