American Dream

July 2, 2005
Averted: Two Infrastructure Disasters Waiting to Happen
By SEWELL CHAN

Quotes:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working to fix two significant defects in its sprawling infrastructure: an unstable utility vault beneath the Grand Hyatt New York in Midtown and a concrete retaining wall along the N subway line in Brooklyn that was close to collapse.

The authority disclosed the problems this week when its board approved contracts for temporary repairs until permanent ones could be made.

If the problems had not been found, the results could have been catastrophic, according to authority documents, which stated that the wall's condition "could present a danger to life, safety and property" and that the 20-ton vault would "cause major damage to the surrounding facilities" if it collapsed.

The vulnerability of the city's transportations systems has become apparent this year. In January, a fire destroyed a signal relay room in Lower Manhattan, crippling subway service for several weeks. In May, a 75-foot-tall retaining wall collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan, disrupting traffic for days.

Fortunately, the new problems were found during routine work.

The more significant seems to be the retaining wall in Brooklyn, which is 18 feet high and dates to 1914. Early last year, workers found that a 350-foot section of the wall, along the northbound track east of the New Utrecht Avenue station, had moved several inches toward the track between 63rd and 64th Streets.

The wall had major horizontal and vertical cracks, and deteriorated concrete had broken off. The authority took temporary measures promptly, but the wall continued to shift.