A modification of this method was used in Contract Section 6, on upper
Broadway. The street at this point is very wide, so by opening a trench
as wide as the proposed four-track line of the subway there still
remained room enough for ordinary traffic. The electric car tracks were
supported by means of trusses 60 or 70 ft. long, which were laid in
couples parallel to the tracks and which rested on firm soil. The soil
under the car tracks was removed, beginning with transversal cuts to
receive the needles which were tied to the lower chord of the trusses by
means of iron stirrups. After the excavation had reached the subgrade,
posts were erected to support the needles thus forming bents upon which
the tracks rested. The trusses were removed and advanced to another
section of the tunnel, and, in the clear space left, the subway was
built from foundation up.
=The Single Narrow Longitudinal Trench.=--This method was used on
Contract Section 5, of the New York subway in order to comply with the
peculiar conditions of the traffic along 42nd St. On this street, on
account of the New York Central Station, there is a constant heavy
traffic, while pedestrians use the northern sidewalks almost
exclusively. A single longitudinal trench was then opened along the
south side, and from this trench all the work of excavation and
construction was carried on. At first the steel structure of the subway
was erected in the trench and then a small heading was driven and
strutted under and across the surface-car tracks. Afterward heavy
I-beams were inserted, which rested with one end on top of the steel
bents and the other end blocked to the floor of the excavation. These
I-beams were located 5 ft. apart and they supported the surface of the
street by means of longitudinal planks. The soil was removed from the
wide space underneath the I-beams and the subway was constructed from
the foundation up. When the structure had been completed, the packing
was placed between the roof of the structure and the surface of the
street, the I-beams withdrawn and the voids filled in.
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