Earlier I posted a link to this incredible slideshow of the tunnels and caverns being excavated out of the bedrock under New York City for a new subway line and how they looked like moonscapes or the lunar excavations from 2001. TPM Reader TT explains for us just why they look that way …
The pictures of the 2nd Avenue Subway excavation are indeed impressive, and to someone like me, who has worked on mass excavation public works projects, they are nearly equivalent to porn (ok, maybe the sports section, or Car & Driver).
However, there’s a very specific reason why the walls and ceilings of the tunnels and stations look like “moonscapes”. That is not Manhattan Island bedrock, but rather the concrete which will cover it in perpetuity once those tunnels and stations are completed.
These are some of the most incredible pictures I’ve seen in some time. The New York City transit department is building an entirely new subway system on the east side of Manhattan. These are pictures of the tunnels and caverns they’re currently building right into the bedrock. Again, not terribly surprising. I know they don’t build these things in the top soil. But when you actually see them they look more like the lunar excavations from 2001. Just give these a look. They’re amazing.