Disaster Underground! Second Avenue, years behind schedule, goes from bad to worse....

Up around 70th Street, upper structures have been in place for a long time on Second Avenue as worked on the new subway seems so placid, you would not be aware of what an explosive catastrophe the whole enterprise has become ( some shocking photos a little further on).

There have been a lot of problems along the way since this started further uptown some years ago.

One was the damage caused from blasting deep in the bedrock to form the cavernous tunnel that as of now will rub down the Avenue and then swing over to link with other lines at Grand Central Terminal ( which in turn is being linked to Penn Station for regular trains).

The businesses on Second Avenue have long been very adversely affected by all the barriers put up on the sidewalks and diversion of  foot traffic.

And, finally, early on it became apparent that the blasting and digging were driving hordes of rats up and into the streets and into shops and apartment buildings. This has not set very well with the people who live along the route on the Upper East Side in their predominantly posh surroundings.

You will notice the tube that goes up to the street  (off a ways in bottom photo) for ventilation...

Let me see what the latest I can find on this dig is..I have heard  nothing new in months... 

Well, the Daily News, as ever, played up the sensational angle a while back..,

Local

EXCLUSIVE: Second Avenue subway plagued with dangerous conditions and safety violations

A Daily News investigation found that within the last two years, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration gave contractors at the site 18 safety violations and fines totaling $61,000. Three more investigations are currently pending.

By Greg B. Smith / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Sunday, June 2, 2013, 2:30 AM

Updated: Sunday, June 2, 2013, 2:30 AM

Print

John Wilson

A controlled blast for the Second Avenue subway went awry, sending chunks of rocks several stories into the air and through the windows of nearby buildings.

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The Second Avenue subway project has been roundly cursed by upper East Siders for disrupting their quiet streets with dirt and chaos.
Below ground it’s even worse.
Since contractors began the big dig, the MTA’s $4.4 billion taxpayer-funded megaproject has been plagued by dangerous conditions and lax oversight, a Daily News investigation has found.
In the last two years, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has whacked contractors at the site with 18 safety violations and $61,000 in fines, records show. Three more investigations are pending.
On one day workers mistakenly hit a live gas line; on another they entered a blast site before it was cleared. One worker was injured in a 20-foot fall and other workers were exposed to high levels of silica because their protective equipment wasn’t adequate.
RELATED: SECOND AVE. SUBWAY WORKER RESCUED FROM MUDDY DEPTH

Mary Altaffer/AP

A construction worker, also known as a sandhog, climbs down from a hole created by a tunnel boring machine to work on the $4.4 billion Second Avenue project.

For three years, details of accidents and injuries were missing from required federal reports filed by one tunnel contractor, while another didn’t bother to fix a dangerous loose rock condition — even after federal inspectors red-flagged it.
One subcontractor even managed to cart truckloads of contaminated soil out of the tunnel without anyone knowing and nearly got away with dumping it at a city-run construction project.
The long-delayed tunnel — first proposed in 1951 and hobbled by money woes since — is a shadow of its former self. Originally slated to run from the Bronx to lower Manhattan, it now stretches only from 63rd St. to 96th St. It’s set to debut in December 2016.
Since construction accelerated in 2011, neighbors have complained about rattling blasts down below and caustic dust floating up to the street to create what they call the “Second Avenue cough.”
Residents say a good example of problems at the site occurred Aug. 8, 2012, when a controlled underground blast mistakenly sent rocks shooting up like mortars on to the street.
PHOTOS: PROGRESS FOR NEW SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY LINE

James Keivom/New York Daily News

Hardhats descended down into the tunnel to rescue Barone.

“Debris flew across 72nd St. and actually made a gouge in our building,” said Mark Foley, co-op president at 305 E. 72nd St.
At the time, the incident went unnoticed outside the neighborhood. Two weeks later, on Aug. 21, it happened again — only on a much bigger scale.
This time the blast shot rocks eight stories into the air, blowing out windows in the nearby Kolb Art Gallery and showering the intersection with concrete chunks.
“They said the two explosions were unrelated. They didn’t give an explanation,” Foley said, surmising that the MTA either knew about the first blast and didn’t do anything about it — or simply wasn’t told about it.
“You had 25-pound boulders flying eight, 10 stories in the air,” he said. “It’s a miracle nobody was killed.”
RELATED: UES RESIDENTS SUE MTA OVER SECOND AVE SUBWAY ENTRANCE

James Keivom/New York Daily News

It took nearly four hours to rescue Barone from the quicksand-like muck that trapped him in the Second Avenue subway tunnel.

A softball-sized piece of mica-encrusted black rock that zinged across the street in the first blast now sits on a table in building’s management office.
Kolb Art Gallery — which waited months for the city to approve its space as habitable — just reopened last week. “No one’s ever explained anything,” said owner Claude Kolb.
The MTA declined to discuss the first blast but blamed the second blast on a joint venture of Schiavone, Shea and Kiewit. They alleged the contractors put dynamite in wrong and didn’t batten down steel hatches meant to contain the blast.
OSHA hit the contractors with two citations, finding they “did not initiate and maintain a safety program.” Fines totalled $12,000.
Then in March, firefighters descended into the tunnel to rescue a worker who got stuck in quicksand-like muck on the tunnel floor.
RELATED: SECOND AVE. SUBWAY ON TRACK TO OPEN IN 2016: MTA

Craig Warga/New York Daily News

Joseph Barone (right) got stuck in a quicksand-like muck on the tunnel floor while working underground on the Second Avenue subway project.

It took four hours to pry 51-year-old Joseph Barone out, during which time three rescuers were injured themselves. That incident is one of three OSHA is now investigating.
In fact, records show OSHA has investigated at least nine other incidents in the last two years in that tunnel.
The most troubling event occurred Sept. 20, 2011, after a worker repairing a conveyor belt fell 20 feet and was hospitalized. Trying to unravel what happened, OSHA was told “no one on site could identify the exact location of the accident,” records state.
Inspectors were also told no workers who witnessed the accident were available. OSHA then demanded to see records contractors are required by law to keep of all work-related accidents that result in injury or illness.
They discovered that from 2009 through 2011, the joint venture of Skanska, Schiavone and Shea had failed to properly report details of accidents, including suspected causes and specific injuries.
RELATED: SLAMMED BY SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION, SECOND AVE. RESTAURANTS TRYING TO LURE CUSTOMERS BACK 

Well, if there is any GOOD news coming in soon, I will let you know.

New York City --which once built subways all the time as a matter of course-- seems to have lost the ability, will and know-how for it,--probably time to bring consultants in from China or someplace ( Tokyo, maybe, too).