New York City Water Tunnel No. 3
New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 is the largest construction project in New York history. It is being constructed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to provide New York City with a third connection to the Upstate New York water supply. The tunnel will be more than 60 miles (97 km) long and will cost over $6 billion. Construction began in 1970 and will not be completed until 2020.[1]
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[edit] Stage One
The project was authorized in 1954. A third tunnel was needed so tunnel one and tunnel two could be closed for repairs. Stage One was begun in 1970 and completed in 1993 and put into service in 1998.[1]
This first section was bored through bedrock between 250 feet (76 m) to 800 feet (240 m) underground. Section one is 13 miles (21 km) long and starts at Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers, New York then crosses under Central Park to reach Fifth Avenue at 78th Street. From there it runs under the East River and Roosevelt Island into Astoria, Queens. It is a concrete-lined tunnel that is 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter. It is then reduced to 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter to increase the pressure so it will rise through 14 vertical shafts.
[edit] Stage Two
The Brooklyn and Queens section runs 5.5 miles and begins in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It runs through Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick before reaching Maspeth, Queens. It connects to the Richmond Tunnel for Staten Island. From Maspeth it runs through Woodside and Astoria. The Brooklyn section will be 16 feet (4.9 m) in diameter, and the Queens section will be 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter.[2]
The Manhattan section will be 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter and run for 9 miles (14 km). It will begin at the valve chamber in Central Park and run south along the west side of Manhattan and curve around the southern end of the island and come partially up the Lower East Side. A spur of the Manhattan tunnel begins on the west side at approximately 34th Street, goes to the east side and then turns north under Second Avenue to about 59th Street. This section of the tunnel was completed in 2008. The construction of riser shafts is expected to be completed in 2013.[3]
[edit] Stage Three
What used to be called Stage 3 is now being referred to as a separate project, the "Kensico-City Tunnel." It will be 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter, running from the Kensico Reservoir in Westchester to the Van Cortland Valve Chamber complex in the Bronx.
[edit] Stage Four
Is a proposed tunnel that starts at the Hillview Reservoir and passes through the eastern Bronx and then through Queens where it will eventually meet the stage 2 section.
[edit] Valve chambers
The largest valve chamber is in Van Cortlandt Park. It is built 250 feet (76 m) below the park surface. When completed it will control the flow of water from the Catskill and Delaware systems. These systems provide 90% of the city's current drinking water. The Van Cortlandt Park Valve Chamber is 620 feet (190 m) long, and 43 feet (13 m) wide and 41 feet (12 m) high. The complex has nine vertical shafts; and two manifolds. Each manifold is 560 feet (170 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter. It will be finished in 2020
[edit] Deaths
Since 1970, when construction on the tunnel began, 24 people have died in construction-related accidents. This includes 23 workers and a 12-year-old boy who died playing at a construction site in the Bronx.[1]
[edit] Tunnels
- New York City Water Tunnel No. 1 completed 1917
- New York City Water Tunnel No. 2 completed 1936
- New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 began 1970, estimated completion in 2020
[edit] Popular culture
- Scenes from the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance were filmed in Tunnel No. 3.
- The CSI: NY episode "A Man a Mile" deals with the death of a sandhog during construction of Water Tunnel No. 3.
- In Spider Robinson's novel Night of Power, Tunnel No. 3 is depicted as an abandoned project, taken over as the secret headquarters for a revolutionary movement.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Tunnelers Hit Something Big: A Milestone". New York Times. August 10, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/nyregion/10tunnel.html. Retrieved 2011-12-15. "It is the biggest public works project in New York City’s history: a $6 billion water tunnel that has claimed 24 lives, endured under six mayors and survived three city fiscal crises, along with the falling and rising fortunes of the metropolis above it. ..."
- ^ "New York City Tunnel No. 3, United States of America". http://www.water-technology.net/projects/new-york-tunnel-3/. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- ^ New York City 2008 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report, page 6
[edit] External links
- John H. Betts The Minerals of New York City originally published in Rocks & Minerals magazine, Volume 84, No . 3 pages 204-252 (2009).
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