New York breakthrough in Times Square
Jun 2010
MTA News Release
- The end of a 4,661ft (1.42km) journey for the Herrenknecht rock TBM last Friday (11 June 2010) is breakthrough into a chamber beneath New York's 42nd Street near the famous Times Square.
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First TBM finish under Times Square
- This marks a major milestone in the $2.1 billion project that will extend New York's No 7 Subway Line to 34th Street and will support the growth of an emerging community on the West Side. The project is funded by the City of New York and managed by the MTA.
- The rock TBM broke through into a 200ft x 50ft x 40ft deep receiving chamber just below the Port Authority Bus Terminal in close proximity to the bus terminal foundation and utilities, as well as the 8th Avenue Subway Line. This is where the new tunnels will connect with the existing No 7 Line terminus at Times Square.
- The project's twin TBM will breakthrough and reach the chamber by the end of July.
- The contractor for the $1.145 billion negotiated contract with the City of New York and the MTA is the Schiavone/Shea/Skanska JV. The same JV is operating a 6.6m diameter Herrenknecht gripper TBM on the $337 million contract for the first phase of Manhattan's Second Avenue Subway project also for the MTA.
- Once through the TBMs will be partially disassembled and backed up to where they started at the access shaft at 26th Street and 11th Avenue and from there lifted to the surface.
- The receiving chamber under the bus terminal was excavated by controlled drill+blast in 2009. Through coordination and cooperation with the Port Authority, the 24hr construction operation was completed in six months, well ahead of the 2-3 years originally planned. The work was coordinated in a way that minimized disruption and was completed without a single complaint from the public.
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Route of the No 7 Line extension under Manhattan's West Side
- The TBMs were launched in the Summer of 2009 from an underground assembly chamber at the foot of the access shaft located at 26th Street. As the machines advance, a precast concrete lining is erected as the permanent liner of the subway running tunnels.
- As the TBMs advanced north from the 34th Street launch chamber, they run under Amtrak/NJ Transit tunnels, tunnels to the former New York Central Line, the Lincoln Tunnel, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal and ramps.
- Once tunneling is complete, work will commence on station caverns and accesses and support facilities such as ventilation and traction power substations will be installed. The schedule for customers taking advantage of the new service is December 2013.
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