EAST SIDE ACCESS
NYC’s Deep Dig

J.M. Syken

Course Outline

In this course, we will examine in depth and detail the background history, need, purpose, politics, advocate, opponents, alternate proposals, financing, engineering, ancillary/concurrent projects, design/construction, phases, elements etc. of the MTA’s East Side Access megaproject – the largest civil engineering project in the U.S. Our review will include the history of the LIRR dating back to its founding in 1834 and acquisition (in 1900) by the Pennsylvania Railroad (a/k/a “Pennsy”). With the opening of Manhattan’s Penn Station in 1910, Long Islander’s now had direct access to Manhattan’s Wast-side while Pennsy’s rival, the New York Central, brought passengers into Grand Central Terminal (1913), on Manhattan’s East-side, from points north of the city. As early as 1930, there was talk of relieving the congestion at both facilities with a new East-side Terminal. With the demise of the Pennsy by the 1960s and the take-over of the LIRR in 1965 by New York State, the passing of a $2.6 billion bond act in 1967 for public transit and commencement of a bi-level tunnel (lower-level for future LIRR trains and upper-level for NYC subway trains), the stage was set for East Side Access to finally become a reality. However, financial, political and community issues would stymie the project until the 1990s, when it was revived. We will discuss the opposition of a proposed terminal on Third Avenue at 48th Street by Turtle Bay residents and the MTA’s opposition to using existing tracks under Park Avenue and facilities in GCT which led to the design of a ‘Terminal under a Terminal,” with its own dedicated tracks and tunnels originating in the LIRR’s Sunnyside Yard.

With the parameters established, we’ll discuss in great detail the scope-of-work of the project, which included fifty contracts, divided between the Manhattan (hard-rock) and Queens (soft-ground) side/s. In particular, we’ll review the TBMs used to create the 13 miles of new tunnels created by ESA. This will include a discussion of the most difficult portion of the project; a short tunnel under Northern Boulevard’s “Triple Transit Corridor” which required a complex ground-freezing operation. We’ll also discuss the methods used to provide access/removal/maintenance of the TBMs, the extensive conveyor system to remove muck etc. We’ll review the work involved in the refurbishment of the Sunnyside Yard to improve service for both the LIRR and Amtrak (i.e. new signals switches, infrastructure etc.) and the creation of the Mid-Day Storage Yard (MDSY) facility- a lay-up yard for 24 LIRR trains serving ESA. Also, we will discuss the substantial delays and cost overruns caused by Antrak’s inability to provide sufficient resources (i.e. manpower) in order to allow the LIRR to operate efficiently in Harold Interlocking.

We will also discuss the four soft-ground tunnels on the Queens side and the first use of a slurry TBM in NYC to create them. On the Manhattan side, we’ll discuss how after passing through the existing 63rd Street Tunnel, two tunnels split into four and then eight as they enter two large caverns, with the eight tracks serving four platform (two upper and two lower) and then continuing past the caverns on four tracks to a storage facility below 38th Street. A total of 47 escalators, 17 of which are hi-rise at 182-feet-long) to bring passengers to/from the platforms in +2 minutes. Other aspects of the project that are related to ESA (i.e One Vanderbilt office tower, LIRR Expansion project etc.) will also be the subject of discussion. Also, the LIRR’s Proposed Service Plan – a draft schedule, will be discussed in depth, in particular how the “bifurcated” schedule seeks to serve both Penn Station and Grand Central Madison (the new name given to the ESA project by the MTA) on a roughly 50/50 basis will adversely and/or beneficially affect LIRR commuters. Lastly, we will discuss the cultural, political and economic impacts to NYC and Long Island when the LIRR gains direct access to Manhattan’s East-side after a long and costly construction period.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Understand/appreciate that ESA is the first expansion of the LIRR in +100 years;
• Understand/appreciate that by the mid-1990s, 60% of daily Long Island commuters worked on Manhattan’s East-side;
• Understand/appreciate ESA includes a new LIRR station at Sunnyside;
• Understand/appreciate that the Lexington Avenue subway line is the busiest in North America;
• Understand/appreciate that in May 2003 a “Record of Decision” was issued which allowed construction of ESA to begin;
• Understand/appreciate that NYC’s Penn Station opened in 1910 and GCT in 1913;
• Understand/appreciate that the LIRR became a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania RR in 1900;
• Understand/appreciate that Grand Central is a “Terminal,” not a “Station”;
• Understand/appreciate that the LIRR was founded in 1834 and is the oldest operating RR that retained its original name;
• Understand/appreciate that, with the demise of the Pennsylvania RR, in 1965 the LIRR came under the control of the Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority (MCTA);
• Understand/appreciate that the 63rd Street Tunnel included four tracks on two levels; the lower for the future LIRR ESA and the upper for the NYC subway;
• Understand/appreciate that the proposed “Metropolitan Transportation Center” was to be located at 48th Street and Third Avenue;
• Understand/appreciate that the 63rd Street Tunnel was designed in conjunction with the Second Avenue Subway project;
• Understand/appreciate that forer First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was instrumental in saving GCT from the wrecker’s ball;
• Understand/appreciate that Architect Marcel Breuer designed a 53-dtory office tower directly above GCT that would have required demolition of significant portions of GCT;
• Understand/appreciate that the 63rd Street Tunnel was begun in 1989, completed in 1975 and opened to NYC subway trains in 1989;
• Understand/appreciate that the 64rd Street Tunnel’s opening to subway trains brough subway service to Roosevelt Island for the first time;
• Understand/appreciate that the LIRR is the busiest commuter RR in the U.S.;
• Understand/appreciate that of the ESA’s 47 escalators, 17 are hi-rise; sloped at 40-degrees and 182-feet-long;
• Understand/appreciate that NYS Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller was instrumental in providing funding for the 63rd Street Tunnel;
• Understand/appreciate that William J. Ronan served as the first Chairman of the MTA, which was established in 1968;
• Understand/appreciate that, initially, funding for the ESA project would come from, City, State nd Federal sources;
• Understand/appreciate that the immersed tube method of tunneling was first use for a rail tunnel in the Detroit River in the early 20th Century;
• Understand/appreciate that there are both advantages and disadvantages to the immersed tube method of tunneling;
• Understand/appreciate that the 63rd Street Tunnel, projected to cost $75 million when construction began in 1969, actually cost $70 million when it was completed in 1975;
• Understand/appreciate that the 63rd Street Tunnel bisected Roosevelt Island just North of the Queensboro Bridge;
• Understand/appreciate the history and development of Roosevelt Island;
• Understand/appreciate Louis Kahn’s “Four Freedoms” monument to FDR at the Southern tip of Roosevelt Island;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1972, 22 tunnels connected Manhattan to the other boroughs of NYC;
• Understand/appreciate that, prior to the 63rd Street Tunnel, the last subway tunnel built to Manhattan was in 1933 and the last vehicle tunnel in 1957;
• Understand/appreciate that during the debate over the placing of the East-side Terminal for ESA in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, future NYC Mayor  Edward I. Koch, who led the opposition, was a Congressional Representative;
• Understand/appreciate that drill+blast methods of excavation were used to create the deep subway tunnel bisecting Roosevelt Island;
• Understand/appreciate thst the MTA was opposed to using existing tracks and infrastructure for GCT for the EDS project for various reasons;
• Understand/appreciate that the Turtle Bay Association was instrumental in preventing the MTA from constructing an East-side Termianal on Third avenue at 58th Street;
• Understand/appreciate the role of NYS Senator Alfonse D’Amato, as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, had in securing Federal financial support dor the ESA project in the late 1990s;
• Understand/appreciate that under ESA, Metro-North would be able to access Penn Station via tracks ownwd by Amtrak;
• Understand/appreciate that reconfiguring existing tracks leading into GCT was not practicable due to the many buildings North of GCT in the “Grand Central Zone”;
• Understand/appreciate that the reconfiguration of the Farley Post Office into a train station was broken down into two phases of construction;
• Understand/appreciate that, despite certain objections, the Regional Plan Assoc. (RPA) was, in general, in favor of ESA;
• Understand/appreciate that proposals to build the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) date back to the 1920s;
• Understand/appreciate that bothe Second and Third Avenue elevated lines were torn down;
• Understand/appreciate that it took two years to dismantle the Second Avenue El;
• Understand/appreciate that the first time the SAS was put on hold was sue to the stock market crash in 1929;
• Understand/appreciate that the outbreak of the Korean War caused support for SAS to be lost for a second time;
• Understand/appreciate that completed portions (i.e. tunnels) of the SAS project were considered for various uses (i.e. mushroom darms), but that never happened;
• Understand/appreciate that Phase 1 of the SAS project was completed in 2015;
• Understand/appreciate that the SAS project was broken down into four construction phases;
• Understand/appreciate that at the SAS’s 98th Street Station, due to conditions, more disruptive “cut-and-cover” excavation had to be used rather than the standard TBM excavation used for the rest of the project;
• Understand/appreciate that by the late 100-s, the increased popularity of the MTA’s sunwats and cuses did not result in increased revenue for the MTA for various reasons, causing concerns for a fare hike;
• Understand/appreciate that initially, it was believed tha ESA project woul be completed in 2010;
• Understand/appreciate that studies of ESA found that 75% of Nassau County residents used the LIRR to travel to Manhattan;
• Understand/appreciate that studies suggested that ESA will increase the LIRR’s operating capacity by 45%;
• Understand/appreciate that Amtrak operates and maintains the four existing RR tunnels under the East River used by Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit;
• Understand/appreciate that a 3-level Wye structure for ESA is located at 59th Street;
• Understand/appreciate that 33-feet of rock caverns between the crown of the two caverns and the bottom of the GCT viaduct and building column foundations located below the exiting level of GCT;
• Understand/appreciate that Manhattan’s 350 million yo Schist and Gneiss has been affected bytectnic episodes in the past;
• Understand/appreciate that of the ESA’s four “Rock Sets,” characteristic in Set 4 wasaltration and decomposition;
• Understand/appreciate that 15-foot-thick “Pegmatite” dipped to the West below Park Avenue, between E. 52 nd Street and E. 56 th Street along the ESA tunnel alignment;
• Understand/appreciate that major shear zones were found along the ESA alignment;
• Understand/appreciate that drill+blast down to about 60-feet below grade was used to construct the original DCT tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate that at 63rd Street and Second Avenue, only 6.5-feet vertically separates the ESA’s LIRR tunnels from existing subway tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate the existing Park Avenue right-of-way is 140-feet;
• Understand/appreciate including fault and shear zones, the ESA alignment was divided into eight “Geologic Zones”;
• Understand/appreciate between adjacent TBM runs, where pillar width was less than 12-feet, special pylons and reinforcement were required;
• Understand/appreciate that the first hard-rock TBM was excavating about 50-feet=per-day;
• Understand/appreciate the minimal allowable deviation, in any direction of the hard-rock TBMs was 2-inches;
• Understand/appreciate enough dirt to fill 13K Olympic-size pools was removed to make room for the two (E/W) ESA caverns;
• Understand/appreciate the diameter of the Manhattan TBM drives was 22-feet;
• Understand/appreciate in Manhattan, about one tunnel diameter separates the upper and lower tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate the fur soft-ground tunnels bored on the Queems side required pre-fab concrete liners;
• Understand/appreciate tunneling under the Northern Blvd. “Multi-Transportation Corridor” required a ground-freezing operation;
• Understand/appreciate an “ice dam” used during the construction of Grand Coulee dam as an example of ground-freezing;
• Understand/appreciate that there is a high water-table in both the Sunnyside Yard and Harold Interlocking;
• Understand/appreciate 1 35-foot-wide “ground treatment zone” was created behind the slurry launch wall;
• Understand/appreciate that the launch shaft used for ESA on the Queens side was even larger than that used for the Channel Tunnel TBMs;
• Understand/appreciate that four tunnels continue past the E/W caverns to the 38th Street storage yard under Park Avenue;
• Understand/appreciate that +60% of construction work for the MTA is performed by sub-contractors;
• Understand/appreciate that for the ESA project, NTA Capital Construction (MTACC) did not require subcontractors fo fill-out a questionnaire under oath;
• Understand/appreciate “Safe Havens” were located at about 1K-foot intervals while boring the Queens tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate all four Queens soft-ground tunnels have an inside diameter (i.d.) of 19.5-feet;
• Understand/appreciate TBMs “Tess” (TBM 1) and “Molina” (TBM 2) both had a capacity of removing 800 tona-per-hour of muck on their 36-inch-wide conveyor systems;
• Understand/appreciate the muck accumulated in the Sunnyside Yard by the Robbins belt conveyor system was removed from the site by truck for use elsewhere as fill;
• Understand/appreciate that the open-cut slurry wall launch chamber on the Queens side was 60-feet-deep;
• Understand/appreciate ESA represented the first use of slurry TBMs in NYC;
• Understand/appreciate Tunnel “D” was to be used for outbound LIRR trains;
• Understand/appreciate the TBM nicknamed “Molina” was tasked with boring the Yard Lead Drive;
• Understand/appreciate that the Yard Lead Tunnel was the longest drive of the four Queens tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate that about 300-feet of the Yard Lead Drive was in rock;
• Understand/appreciate boyj Teas and Molina were able to deal with “mixed-face” conditions, including boulders, the “B/C” tunnel is to be used for “contra-flow trains (outbound in AM, inbound in PM);
• Understand/appreciate that after TBM 1 got past the initial rock face, in its best 24-hour day it installed 19 “rings” (pre-fab concrete liner);
• Understand/appreciate that on its best 24-hour day, TBM 2 was able to install 14 tings;
• Understand/appreciate TBM 2 holed-through the Yard Lead Drive 10 days ahead of schedule;
• Understand/appreciate cutterheads for TBM 1 were changed under 16 psi of compressed air;
• Understand/appreciate that deposits of clay and gravel lay below the glacial deposits/fill where the Queens tunnels were bored;
• Understand/appreciate that a Geological Baseline Report (GBR) was not used in awarding the four Queens soft-ground tunnel contracts;
• Understand/appreciate each of the Queens slurry TBMs had 42 disc cutters in their cutting face;
• Understand/appreciate testing of TBM1/2’s ability to deal with boulders was done at the TBM maufacturer’s facility with boulders taken from the ESA site;
• Understand/appreciate for TBM soft-ground operation, the target backfill grouting pressure (above hydrostatic pressure) was determined to be 30 psi;
• Understand/appreciate average settlement values were consistently below the predicted analysis for the boring of the Queens tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate while driving the Queens tunnels, settlement values increased as <1.5 diameters of overburden was reduced;
• Understand/appreciate one of the Queens TBM drives came within 5-feet of the surface;
• Understand/appreciate the Queens TBMs experienced 0.5-inches of heave while boring the soft-ground tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate the preparatory work for Contract CQ039 (Northern Blvd. tunnel) took two years (ground freezing);
• Understand/appreciate not all of the 2,500-foot-long curvilinear slurry wall was “Jet-grouted”; for waterproofing purposes;
• Understand/appreciate the “Montauk Cut-Off” included a bascule bridge over Dutch Kills;
• Understand/appreciate when ESA construction began in 2007, the estimated cost was $6.3 billion and completion in 2013;
• Understand/appreciate by February 2013, ESA’s cost estimate was raised to $8.4 billion with completion in 2019;
• Understand/appreciate “Wellways” (diagonal excavations though hard rock) were dug for the hi-rise escalators connecting the platforms to the concourse;
• Understand/appreciate to ensure stability, the tunnel under Northern Blvd. was excavated in seven horizontal segments (a/k/a “drifts”);
• Understand/appreciate the Yard Lead Tunnel is located beneath the B/C Tunnel;
• Understand/appreciate a yellow geotextile fabric was used to line the Manhattan tunnels/cavern/wyes for waterproofing purposes;
• Understand/appreciate ny November 2015, the estimated cost of ESA was $10.2 billion;
• Understand/appreciate by September 2015, ESA was nearly 60% complete;
• Understand/appreciate the four new platforms for ESA will be able to accommodate LIRR trains twelve cars long;
• Understand/appreciate the aximun depth of the Queens tunnels was 90-feet; 140-feet for the Manhattan tunnels;
• Understand/appreciate it takes LIRR ESA commuters +2 minutes to go from street level to platform level;
• Understand/appreciate the 17 hi-rise escalators operate at a speed of 100 feet-per-minute;
• Understand/appreciate at its peak, ESA employed +2,600 workers;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will offer both digital and paper ticketing;
• Understand/appreciate by August 2017, ESA was 75% complete;
• Understand/appreciate that +800 trains-per-day pass through Harold Interlocking;
• Understand/appreciate that in July 2012, in order to speed-up ESA construction, the MTA cancelled three AM trains;
• Understand/appreciate in early 2014, the MTA claimed that ESA would increase the property values of 400K Long Island homes;
• Understand/appreciate “TriboroRX” is based on Paris’ commuter rail system;
• Understand/appreciate a certain distance is required for passenger and freight trains traveling on the same right-of-way;
• Understand/appreciate MTACC Chief  Dr. Michael Horodniceanu compared ESA to building the Panama Canal while giving a tour of ESA to reporters;
• Understand/appreciate between June and August 2015, nearly 500 “activities” along the ESA project’s Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule were cancelled or delayed due to Amtrak’s “lack of resources’;
• Understand/appreciate The main proponent of a proposed Hudson River rail Tunnel is Amtrak;
• Understand/appreciate capacity improvements at Jamaica Station, considered an indirect ESA project  cost, were valued at $450 million;
• Understand/appreciate Capital Improvements East of Jamaica were considered indirect costs of the ESA project;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR’s Flatbush Station was demolished in 1988;
• Understand/appreciate due to height restrictions, dual-mode and double-decker rail cars will not be able to transit through the 63rd Street Tunnel;
• Understand/appreciate an audit performed in 2010 revealed that of 900 ESA workers, only 700 could be accounted for performing actual work;
• Understand/appreciate the track-per-mile cost for ESA was 7x the worldwide average;
• Understand/appreciate the track-per-mile cost of the No. 7 Extension was $1.5 billion-per-mile, the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) $2.5 billion-per-mile and ESA $3.5 billion-per-mile;
• Understand/appreciate in 1998, NYS Senator Al D’Amato stated that ESA would cost$3 billion and be completed by 2010;
• Understand/appreciate in a letter to the NYT in 1930, Trumbull Marshall suggested a “Midtown Union Terminal” be built to relieve congestion at Penn Station and GCT;
• Understand/appreciate that the Empire State Building (ESB) was located in neither the Downtown or Midtown Business District/s;
• Understand/appreciate in 1930, the daily ridership of the LIRR was 47K and by 955, had grown to 74K;
• Understand/appreciate it took 32 years (1940-1972) to complete the Long Island Expressway (LIE);
• Understand/appreciate the Queens Midtown Tunnel, opened in 1940, was the first element of the LIE;
• Understand/appreciate between 1930 and 1960, car and truck traffic coming into Manhattan fro the East increased two-fold;
• Understand/appreciate NYS Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller was instrumental in creating the MTA;
• Understand/appreciate in 1967, the long-dormant idea of an East-side Terminal for the LIRR was renewed with the passing of a #2.4 billion bond act;
• Understand/appreciate in 1991, NY politicians started to talk about “finishing the job” (i.e. ESA);
• Understand/appreciate by 2015, although Penn Station was operating ”near operational capacity,” the number of LIRR rush-hour passengers had decreased, as compared to 1995;
• Understand/appreciate pre-Acela, Amtrak’s share of the commuter-carrier market between NYC and Boston was 10%
• Understand/appreciate Amtrak’s “Metroliner” service between Boton and NYC ws phased-out a few years after “Acela” was introduced;
• Understand/appreciate the ESA project consumed 30K tons of steel;
• Understand/appreciate Amtra and the LIRR did not work closely when establishing cost projections for work to be done in Harold Interlocking;
• Understand/appreciate as many as 40% of the LIRR’s daily passengers move via the Main Line;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR Expansion Project was expected to cost $2 billion;
• Understand/appreciate The LIRR Expansion Project will, among other thigs, eliminate seven grade crossings, extend station platforms and provide infrastructure upgrades;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR’s Third Track Project extends between Floral Park and Hichsville along the Main Line;
• Understand/appreciate the Port Washington Branch is the only one of eleven branches not to pass  through Jamaica;
• Understand/appreciate The LIRR’s proposed draft schedule will increase overall service by 40%;
• Understand/appreciate under the proposed draft schedule, there will no longer be scheduled connections at Jamaica Station;
• Understand/appreciate according to TheLIRRToday, under the proposed draft schedule LIRR passenger travel times will increase an average of 8.1 minutes-per-day;
• Understand/appreciate according to The LIRRToday, the West Hempstead Station would see noticeable improvements in off-peak service;
• Understand/appreciate LIRR “Zone Scheduling” was introduced in 1974;
• Understand/appreciate by mid-2022, 6% of Long Islanders work in Manhattan;
• Understand/appreciate per a 2012-14 LIRR “Origins & Destination Study,” +40% of respondents said that LIRR service was a “very” important factor in deciding where to live;
• Understand/appreciate 86% of peak LIRR passengers are traveling between 4:00pm and 7:00pm;
• Understand/appreciate Under the ESA’s Proposed Service Plan, an increase of 37%in reverse-peak trains to/from Long Island will be realized;
• Understand/appreciate under the Proposed Service Plan, Brooklyn-bound shuttle trains will depart from Jamaica Station’s “Platform F”;
• Understand/appreciate thst the new Amtrak underpass at Harold Interlocking will create a congestion-free bypass dor Amtrak trains approaching Penn Station from Boston;
• Understand/appreciate as part of allowing Metro-North New Haven Line trains to access Penn Station via the West-side of Manhattan, four new M-N stations will be built in the Bronx;
• Understand/appreciate at Harold Interlocking, a microprocessor-based signal system replaced the relay-based system;
• Understand/appreciate prior to being tapped to head MTACC, Arthur R. (“Rob”) Troup served as Deputy General Manager of Atlanta’s Rapid Transit Authority;
• Understand/appreciate One Vanderbilt. a 63-story office tower just West of GCT, was allowed to be built in exchange for $220 million in transit upgrades;
• Understand/appreciate demolition of five buildings to make room for One Vanderbilt exposed the West façade of GCT to view;
• Understand/appreciate to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, once ESA opens Amtrak will close-for-repairs two of the four East River rail tunnels it operates and maintains;
• Understand/appreciate as part of Harold Interlocking’s upgrade, 97 new track switches were installed;
• Understand/appreciate ESA included 13 miles of new tunnels and +40 miles of new track;
• Understand/appreciate four cross-passages connect the E/W cavern platforms;
• Understand/appreciate the first passenger test train into the new ESA station took place on October 31, 2021;
• Understand/appreciate that ESA consisted of 29 major operations and control systems, most fully integrated;
• Understand/appreciate as of May 20222, operational testing was complete on traction power and conventional/blue-light signal systems;
• Understand/appreciate control of trains into and out of the new “Grand Central Madison” (GCM) station will be done from GCT;
• Understand/appreciate completion of the “East-bound Re-Route” and “West-bound Bypass” projects at Harold Interlocking were not contingent for the opening of GCM;
• Understand/appreciate five new steel bridges were erected at Harold Interlocking;
• Understand/appreciate 550 miles of cable were installed;
• Understand/appreciate a modular C08 power substation was installed;
• Understand/appreciate a “Pocket park” with a waterfall was built at 50th Street to help mitigate noise from n ESA ventilation facility;
• Understand/appreciate the new 350K sq. ft. concourse will include 24 retail storefronts;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will cut commuting time for LIRR commuters who work on the East-side by 40 minutes;
• Understand/appreciate the Mezzanine Level of GCM will be 140-feet below Park Avenue;
• Understand/appreciate the E?W caverns run along Madison Avenue, between 43rd and 45th Street/s;
• Understand/appreciate 45% of LIRR commuters are expected to go to GCM;
• Understand/appreciate Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) will benefit from improvements made to Harold Interlocking;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will improve reverse-commuting between Manhattan and Long island;in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, it was realized alternate ingress/egress from Manhattan was needed, which ESA provides;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR handles +160K passenfrs-per-day;
• Understand/appreciate the ESA’s 13 miles of new tunnels will increase train capacity to/from Manhattan by 50%;
• Understand/appreciate the Covid-19 pandemic led to a surge in remote work and a decline in LIRR ridership;
• Understand/appreciate at 37.7 minutes, a survey found that the NY Metro Area had the longest commute (pre-pandemic);
• Understand/appreciate GCM is the largest passenger rail terminal built in the U.S. since the 1950s;
• Understand/appreciate the GCM is 7000K sq. ft. total;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will reduce overcrowding at Penn Station;
• Understand/appreciate as of August 2022, the cost of ESA was $11.1 billion with completion in December 2022;
• Understand/appreciate when Penn Station opened in 1910, the population of Long Island was about37K, in 2022 it is 2.8 million;
• Understand/appreciate ESA required 50 contracts;
• Understand/appreciate 8.500 activities were transformed into 40K distinct time activities that could be tracked and completed;
• Understand/appreciate ESA is basically a “Terminal beneath a Terminal” in its design;
• Understand/appreciate the “New White Pearl” marble in GCM compliments GCT’s Botticino marble;
• Understand/appreciate ESA includes: 44 ventilation fans; 975 security cameras; 15 overhead gantries;
• Understand/appreciate I 1929 there were 709 trains-per-day into CCT, by 1973 there were 400 trains=per-day;
• Understand/appreciate the Mid-Day Storage Yard (MDSY) consists of 24 pay-up tracks, 81 switches and can store 300 rail cars during the day;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will also alleviate crowding on the NYC subway;
• Understand/appreciate ESA’s caverns have three levels – middle level “Mezzanine” connects to concourse;
• Understand/appreciate ESA’s escalator contractor will also operate and maintain them (rather than the MTA);
• Understand/appreciate one of the two 640-ton TBMs used to bore eight miles of new tunnels under Manhattan was left abandoned in-place;
• Understand/appreciate at $11.1 billion, ESA cost +2.5x the original budget;
• Understand/appreciate the MTA paid 75% of ESA’s cost, the rest came from the Federal Government;
• Understand/appreciate labor for ESA cost $4.4 billion or 43%;
• Understand/appreciate ESA’s unionized workers made about $1K/day;
• Understand/appreciate during ESA construction. It was imperative that M-N service not be disrupted;
• Understand/appreciate that Amtrak’s control of Harold Interlocking caused many delays of the ESA project;
• Understand/appreciate construction of ESA began on March 4, 2007 and was conducted 24 hrs/day (three shifts) five days/week;
• Understand/appreciate the last production blast was on March 7, 2013, six years to the day when construction began;
• Understand/appreciate blasting in Manhattan formally completed on April 10, 2013;
• Understand/appreciate 857K cu. Yds. Of muck removed in Manhattan;
• Understand/appreciate 63 separate work headings were used;
• Understand/appreciate ESA will add 24 peak-hour trains or about 20,500 new peak-hour seats;
• Understand/appreciate the tunnel ling supports the elevated subway structure at Northern Blvd.;
• Understand/appreciate it took one-year for the frozen ground to dissipate;
• Understand/appreciate Amtrak’s NEC diverges at Harold Interlocking, making it critical to its operations;
• Understand/appreciate it took 17 years to complete ESA;
• Understand/appreciate one workman (a sandhog) died during construction;
• Understand/appreciate that underground construction is staffed by as many as 4x more laborers than elsewhere in the world;
• Understand/appreciate when bidding to the MTA, contractors increase projected cost by up to 40% (a/k/a “The MTA Factor”);
• Understand/appreciate since 1990, there have been at least 150 transit projects around the world;
• Understand/appreciate approximate average cost of transit projects around the world is <$599 million, except in NYC;
• Understand/appreciate worker health insurance represents 10% of construction cost in NYC;
• Understand/appreciate it take about 13 people to run a TBM elsewhere in the world, in NYC it takes up to 25;
• Understand/appreciate to make up for “technological advances,” Local 147 (sandhogs) is paid $450K for each TBM used;
• Understand/appreciate that Parson Brinkerhooff (now known as “WSP USA”), the engineering consultants for the original NYC subway, was teamed with STV Inc. in a joint-venture as engineering consultants for the ESA project;
• Understand/appreciate Parsons Brinkerhoff is referred to as “The MTA retirement home” because so many MTA executives go to work for them after leaving the MTA (i.e. former MTA Chairman Thomas Pendergast”;
• Understand/appreciate typically, “soft costs” (i.e. preliminary design, engineering, construction management) are about 20% on U.S. transit projects – on ESA was one-third of budget - $1.3 billion (not including financing expenses);
• Understand/appreciate ESA had 500 consultants from twelve companies;
• Understand/appreciate most ESA consultants and/or contractors were donors to unions and/or politicians;
• Understand/appreciate the main impact on cost overruns was the extension of time of construction (MTA blames Amtrak);
• Understand/appreciate the MTA had to reimburse Amtrak for their labor costs;
• Understand/appreciate a streamlined approval process reduced it from 300 days to three months;
• Understand/appreciate a checklist of 45K tasks improved flow of work and coordination;
• Understand/appreciate HYC was losing people to Long Island in the 20th Century – LI population 600K before WWII, 2.6 million by 1970;
• Understand/appreciate LIRR ridership was 47,600 daily in 1930, 74K daily by 1955;
• Understand/appreciate the ATA’s taking low bids for most of the work was not always a cost-effective decision (i.e. ground freezing);
• Understand/appreciate had the MTA chosen to use existing GCT facilities for ESA, 21 rather than 24 trains=per-hour during AM rush hours would have been available;
• Understand/appreciate blasting took 85 rather than 48 months to complete, mostly due to M-N objections;
• Understand/appreciate having built little in the past 60 years, the MTA launched three major prohects at the same time (ESA, No.7 Extension and SAS);
• Understand/appreciate the completion of NYC Water Tunnel No.3 released many experienced sandhogs to work on ESA, with a resulting increase in production;
• Understand/appreciate at first, ESA progress was slow due to a lack of experienced workers;
• Understand/appreciate other MTA projects (i.e  Fulton Street Subway Hub) escalated ESA costs;
• Understand/appreciate labor was the single biggest cost for ESA;
• Understand/appreciate the MTA took the opportunity to untangle Amtrak infrastructure from its own in Harold Interlocking as part of ESA;
• Understand/appreciate work in Harold Interlocking was done mainly on nights and weekends for short periods (i.e 45 minutes) between trains;
• Understand/appreciate Amtrak’s worker rules hampered ESA progress;
• Understand/appreciate the MTA’s portion of ESA cost expanded to 75% rather than the 50% envisioned;
• Understand/appreciate the Gateway Project and its benefits to the region;
• Understand/appreciate that the ESA will change LI’s economic prospects;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR Expansion Project will improve service for the LIRR’s 308K daily passengers;
• Understand/appreciate under the Proposed Service Plan, Pt. Washingtn riders will see an increase of an average +8 minutes to their daily commute;
• Understand/appreciate with the addition of other related projects, the MTA has spent +$15 billion to improve service;
• Understand/appreciate in 2017, 20%of LI’s jobs were located within one-half mile of an LIRR station;
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR established “Maximum Vehicle Headway”as part of its Service Standards which should govern how frequently each station is served (in compliance with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1974);
• Understand/appreciate the LIRR has four levels of service headway;
• Understand/appreciate “Clockface” service means trains arrive/depart at consistent times during off-peak periods, and;
• Understand/appreciate why TheLIRRToday summed-up the LIRR’s ESA Proposed Service Plan/Draft Schedule as: “Sloppy, Inconsistent and Confusing”.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for architects, engineers and other design professionals.

Benefit to Attendees

The attendee/s will gain an intimate knowledge and insight into the background history, related projects, engineering, design, construction and operation of the MTA’s East Side Access megaproject.

Course Introduction

The course includes an in-depth slideshow (PowerPoint) presentation and the viewing of documentary films.

Course Content

In this course, you are required to view/study the following slideshow and the materials contained in the web pages:

EAST SIDE ACCESS: NYC’s Deep Dig (printable handout in PDF, 32 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)
EAST SIDE ACCESS: NYC’s Deep Dig (non-printable slideshow for screen-viewing only, 171 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)

Archival/Documentary Film:

TITLE: Transit Construction Progress Report – Part 1 (1973)
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrLHEbTFJgo
DURATION: 07:26
TITLE: Grand Central’s $11bn Underground Expansion
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KvklU1Ny7g
DURATION: 07:55
TITLE: Inside the MTA’s ESA Project (PBS)
LINK: https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-inside-mtas-east-side-access-project/
DURATION: 08:09
TITLE: East Side Access (Amodernli.com)
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQAoDWm4yOA&t=2s
DURATION: 04:08
TITLE: Arteries of New York City (1941)
LINK: http://archive.org/details/Arteries1941
DURATION: 09:27
TITLE: Grand Central Madison Opening Day
LINK: https://youtu.be/8Ey6XgjaIHE?t=107
DURATION: 11:15
TITLE: Inside the New Grand Central Madison on its Opening Day
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYkhTqr4gi0
DURATION: 09:38
TITLE: Grand Central Madison to Jamaica - Front Cab View
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWehoGfBfSk
DURATION: 22:50

Note A: Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right-clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader from your computer.

Course Summary

Boondogle (n.)
(boon-dog-gle)

A trivial, useless, or unnecessary undertaking; wasteful expenditure.

Popularized during the Great Depression as a contemptuous word for New Deal make-work projects for the unemployed, as far as its critics are concerned, the East Side Access (ESA) project was a “Boondogle” in every sense of the word. After all, it had it all: budgets that kept heading north while construction schedules kept being kicked down the road; union featherbedding; a revolving door of MTA executives turning-up working for the very same people they previously supervised, mob-affiliated contractors, inter-agency rivalries; public/private conflicts-of-interest; leadership gaps etc., etc. Typically, rail tunnels cost less than $500 million-per-mile, but the laws of gravity seem not to apply in NYC where the No. 7 Line Extension cost $1.5 billion-per-mile, the Second Avenue Subway cost $2.5 billion-per-mile (both projects were contemporaries of ESA) while the ESA itself set a new record at $3.5 billion-per-mile. Even so, the accomplishment is no less impressive, and enduring. In 1927, in an address to the New York Building Congress, Thomas Holden asserted that construction was essentially a manufacturing process, resulting in a new form of capital thus adding to the permanent wealth of the nation. Indeed.    

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

Websites

https://new.mta.info/project/east-side-access

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Access

Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gratAnzi84
(What is East Side Access? – 01:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O3YsapSLGI
(The East Side Access Project – 06:18)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDpUxFO2v9Q
(ESA Soft-Ground TBM Launch – 02:21)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJsp63w4lVs
(ESA: 1/24/2012 Update – 01:50)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdIq8EqRl_w
(ESA Update 2 – 07:38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO0F_6e_OY8
(ESA: 9/21/2012 Update – 02:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnD3qjZkYrw
(ESA: 9/11/2015 Update – 01:13)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJl-rsSh-tY
(ESA: 4/15/2014 Update – 01:23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTGz_dtK6Ug
(Gov. Hochel Rides LIRR to ESA – 03:32)

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/a-look-inside-new-grand-central-madison-allowing-lirr-riders-to-get-to-grand-central/3621536/
(A look Inside New “Grand Central Madison” – 02:17)

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/manhattan/transit/2017/09/25/in-a-milestone-for-long-island-commuters--mta-starts-laying-track-for-long-awaited-east-side-access
MTA Starts Laying Track for Log-Awaited ESA for LIRR Commuter – 00:47)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ZXZjm44jQ
(ESA: Contract CH057D – NE Quadrant Track Installation – 01:01)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xkyyc9PlQA
(How to build an Immersed Tunnel – 02:18)

http://archive.org/details/ThirdAve1950
(Third Avenue El [1955]10:34)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxBAWctxe3M
(Getting Ready fpr Grand Central Madison - 02:23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3GWQlHWWuk
(Film: A Short History of the Sunnyside Yards – 12:34)

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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