The New York Subway, Its Construction and EquipmentInterborough Rapid Transit Company
History
The New York Subway, Its Construction and Equipment
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
Local transit -- New York (State) -- New York; Subways -- New York (State) -- New York
At 134th Street and Broadway a two-track structure of the steel beam
type about 200 feet long was completed. Approaching it from the south,
leading from Manhattan Valley Viaduct, was an open cut with retaining
walls 300 feet long and from 3 to 13 feet in height. After all this
work was finished (and it happened to be the first finished on the
subway), it was decided to widen the road to three tracks, and a
unique piece of work was successfully accomplished. The retaining
walls were moved bodily on slides, by means of jacks, to a line 6-1/4
feet on each side, widening the roadbed 12-1/2 feet, without a break
in either wall. The method of widening the steel-beam typical subway
portion was equally novel. The west wall was moved bodily by jacks
the necessary distance to bring it in line with the new position of
the west retaining wall. The remainder of the structure was then moved
bodily, also by jacks, 6-1/4 feet to the east. The new roof of the
usual type was then added over 12-1/2 feet of additional opening. (See
photographs on pages 46 and 47.)
[Illustration: CONCRETE SEWER BACK OF SIDE WALL, BROADWAY AND 56TH
STREET]
[Illustration: LARGE GAS AND WATER PIPES, RELAID BEHIND EACH SIDE WALL
ON ELM STREET]
Provision had to be made, not only for buildings along the route that
towered far above the street surface, but also for some which
burrowed far below the subway. Photograph on page 47 shows an
interesting example at 42d Street and Broadway, where the pressroom of
the new building of the "New York Times" is beneath the subway, the
first floor is above it, and the first basement is alongside of it.
Incidentally it should be noted that the steel structure of the
building and the subway are independent, the columns of the building
passing through the subway station.
[Illustration: DIFFICULT PIPE WORK--BROADWAY AND 70TH STREET]
At 42d Street and Park Avenue the road passes under the Hotel Belmont,
which necessitated the use of extra heavy steel girders and
foundations for the support of the hotel and reinforced subway
station. (See photograph on page 48.)
Along the east side of Park Row the ascending line of the "loop" was
built through the pressroom of the "New York Times" (the older
downtown building), and as the excavation was considerably below the
bottom of the foundation of the building, great care was necessary to
avoid any settlement. Instead of wood sheathing, steel channels were
driven and thoroughly braced, and construction proceeded without
disturbance of the building, which is very tall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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