Tunnel Vision Incision

⛔️ 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗡𝗢𝗪
This is video from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel showing water pouring into it.
The East River is above it
(Video by @whatisnewyork)#NYC #Tunnel pic.twitter.com/GqyYxotbcq

— Ꮃꭺꮮꮮ Ꮪꭲꭱꭼꭼꭲ Ꮪꮋꭼꭼꭲ (@wallstreetsheet) September 4, 2024

 

 NY Post

Water from the East River flowed into the the Queens Midtown Tunnel Wednesday afternoon after a drilling contractor accidentally punched a hole in the roof and caused a deluge that terrified drivers, according to officials and shocking video.

Workers were doing “investigative work related to the design of the upcoming UN esplanade project” when they punctured a hole in the edge of the tunnel, Josh Kraus of the New York City Economic Development Corporation said at a press conference.

The busy passageway sprung a leak in the south tube on the Queens side at around 12:30 p.m., prompting officials to close it for roughly 45 minutes.

Video of the massive leak, showed cars driving trough the tunnel as water cascaded down from square openings.

“Well that’s scary,” said someone in a video posted online by @whatisnewyork.

By 3 p.m. officials had reopened one lane in each direction — but traffic remained snarled.

The tunnel fully reopened hours later, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

“Both tunnels are now back open to east/west directions of travel. There will be some residual delays as traffic gets moving in the area. Please be patient,” the mayor wrote on X just after 6 p.m. 

MTA CEO Janno Lieber said city-funded private contractor caused the damage while drilling to find pylons for the East River greenway and that the hole was 2 1/2 inches in diameter in the roof, according to Fox News.

“We determined it was a drilling contractor who drilled about a 2.5 inch hole through the cast iron liner [of the tunnel],” Cathy Sheridan, President of MTA Bridges and Tunnels said at the press conference.

“We don’t know when we will be open. We hope it will be within hours and not days,” she said.

 

Parks keeps butchering trees at Old Hickory Park

"For the third year in a row the trees that line the edge of Old Hickory Park have been cut back to nothing but trunk. These trees used to provide a barrier between the neighborhood and the tunnel. However the views of the billboards above the tunnel entrance seem to outweigh the value of our park. This horror is going on today and will probably continue into tomorrow. I have photos of the destruction as well as the city permit. This stinks of corruption." - Anonymous

No more cash at the QMT

From DNA Info:

Drivers heading from Manhattan to Queens or vice versa through the Queens Midtown Tunnel won't be able to pay cash for the toll in early 2017, according to a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

All toll plazas of the tunnel will go cashless in January, a change that the MTA says will result in a smoother tunnel experience for all, according to Joyce Mulvaney, the agency’s director of community affairs.

The new policy will not affect drivers who already use E-ZPass.

But those who don't will have their license plate photographed by cameras installed at the toll plazas and get a bill in the mail within 30 days.

The MTA has agreements with out-of-state DMVs to send the bill to non-New York drivers, according to MTA spokesman Christopher McKniff.

The toll for E-ZPass drivers is $5.54. For everyone else, it's $8. Vehicles are tolled in both directions.

Drivers who fail to pay the toll on time will receive a $100 violation. Ongoing failure to pay will mean having the bill referred to a collections agency, with the possibility of civil lawsuits, McKniff said.

Contract awarded for tunnel repairs

From the Queens Courier:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that the MTA is expected to award a four-year, $236.5 million contract to rebuild the Queens Midtown Tunnel, which since the 2012 hurricane has been operating with temporary repairs. Around 40 percent of the length of tunnel was submerged in 12 million gallons of salt water during the storm.

The contract, which will be completed with Judlau Contracting Inc., was approved by the MTA Bridges and Tunnels Committee on Monday and is expected to be approved by the full MTA board on Wednesday.

Tunnels get federal money

From AM-NY:

The Hugh L. Carey and Queens Midtown tunnels are getting $336 million of repairs from federal superstorm Sandy aid, officials announced Thursday.

The money for the MTA from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will go toward fixing architectural, mechanical and electrical parts and temporary flood walls at entrances, and elevating key equipment, according to federal officials.

The aid will also cover an emergency generator at the Governors Island ventilation building near the Carey (Brooklyn Battery) tunnel. The tunnels, which together see more than 100,000 cars a day, were flooded with about 80 million gallons of water during Sandy.

Happy birthday, Queens Midtown Tunnel

From the Queens Gazette:

A fter 20 years of lobbying and planning and four years of hard labor, the Queens Midtown Tunnel, linking Manhattan and Long Island City, Queens, opened on November 15, 1940 to the public. At the time it was the largest, non-federal public works project in the nation.

To commemorate the tunnel’s 70th anniversary, MTA Bridges and Tunnels will have a collection of historic photographs from the construction of the tunnel on display in the lobby of its Lower Manhattan offices at 2 Broadway through the end of the month.

On November 8, 1939, LaGuardia pulled a switch to blast the last six feet of rock between the Manhattan and Queens shields in both tubes. A year and one week later, opening ceremonies were held on the Manhattan toll plaza, attended by Roosevelt, who was the first person to drive through the new tunnel. Other attendees included Mayor LaGuardia, state Senator Robert Wagner and the tunnel’s Chief Engineer Ole Singstad, a wellknown tunnel builder who finished building the Holland Tunnel after the death of its original engineer.

In its first full year of operation, 4.4 million vehicles used the tunnel, while in 2009 that figure was 27.7 million.

Now, 70 years later, the tunnel appears much the same as it did when it opened in 1940, with the exception of the original brick roadway, which was replaced with asphalt in 1995, and the addition of EZPass technology. The last major rehabilitation project, a $126 million project completed in 2001, replaced some of the original 1930s materials that created brighter lighting, new ceilings, new tiles along the walls and an entirely new traffic control system, including electronic message signs and traffic control lights and signals.

Speedier rides will make crime fighting more challenging

From the NY Post:

The ride across MTA bridges will soon be faster -- but police aren't sure it'll be safer.

Law-enforcement officials are concerned that the agency's plan for no-stop tolls at its nine bridges and tunnels will eliminate a "natural roadblock" for drunken drivers, toll-beaters and even terrorists.

"There is a drastic impact from [a] law-enforcement perspective," one police source told The Post. "This will eliminate all the good, the gains that were made since 9/11."

Officers make an average of 1,800 arrests at the crossings every year, the source said, with nearly all coming at a toll plaza, where even vehicles equipped with E-ZPass have to slow down and wait for a gate.

That helps police determine if a driver is suspicious, and makes stopping vehicles easier.

Queens-Midtown Tunnel closures

From the Times Ledger:

The MTA plans to shut down parts of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel the next two Sundays for repair work.

Judie Glave, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Department of Bridges and Tunnels, said both lanes of the Manhattan-bound tunnel will be shut down from 1 a.m. Nov. 8 until 5:30 a.m. Nov. 9.

Glave said two-way traffic would be permitted in the remaining tube for cars only during the period.

“Trucks are asked to use either the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge or the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel,” Glave said.

She said detour signs on the Queens side will direct motorists at 50th Avenue to use the 21st Street entrance ramp instead of the 11th Street ramp, which will be closed. Cars using the Queens-bound tube into Manhattan during two-way traffic operation will exit at East 36 Street and Second Avenue or East 37th Street.

The repairs are being done by Restani (DBA) Excellent Paving of Astoria and include removing old concrete and replacing it with fast-setting concrete as well as general pothole repairs, repaving and restoring stripes in lanes inside the tube and on the toll plaza.

The same work will be performed the week of Nov. 15 in the Queens-bound tube of the tunnel. Once again the entire tube will be closed from 1 a.m Nov. 15 through 5:30 a.m. Nov.16.