Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

This morning I took a tour of the MTA's newly completed East Side Access tunnel 140 feet below Midtown Manhattan. My laptop is about to run out of batteries and, of course, I left my power cord at home. (It's a good thing I'm only in charge of running a blog and not, say, a 22-foot diameter, 850-ton tunnel boring machine.) So I'm just going to publish these photos with minimal text. I'll fill in the details later. Warning: If you're not a serious infrastructure geek, you might just want to skip this post altogether.

img_5664-traynor.jpg

Joe Trainor, MTA Capital Construction

16-flights.jpg

Sixteen flights down.

dark-tunnel.jpg

Reminds me of a Merle Travis song.

img_5725-man-car.jpg

The "man car." Not the fanciest press junket.

workers-tunnel.jpg

Heading southbound towards Grand Central.

curve.jpg

Left curve end. Right curve start. 

img_5724-digger.jpg

Digger.

img_5682-welder.jpg

Blow torch.

img_5687-schist.jpg

Manhattan schist.

img_5714-sandhog.jpg

Sandhogs.

img_5703-drilltip.jpg

Drill tip.

img_5695-hoseguy.jpg

 Drill tip and worker.

Back to 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue in all of its sweltering, stylish, SUV-choked glory.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Why Does Trump Wants To Punish Cities For Free Buses?

Hint: it's probably not to make anyone's transportation network better!

February 12, 2026

Thursday’s Headlines Come Together

A large coalition is urging Congress to protect funding for active transportation.

February 12, 2026

Opinion: NYC Is Partly To Blame For Failure of Privately Owned Citi Bike After Winter Storm

The Mamdani administration should fine Lyft for falling short of its contractual obligations — and reward it for meeting or surpassing them.

February 11, 2026

Wednesday’s Headlines Are Back to the Future

Some old Greyhound stations are architectural landmarks. Can they be repurposed?

February 11, 2026

Another Conspiracy Theory, This One Around a Vehicle Miles Tax, Comes to California

"None of this required secret meetings or hidden language in the bill. It only required repetition — and the willingness to treat worst-case hypotheticals as settled fact."

February 10, 2026

Safe Streets, Workers Rights, Crash Victims Targeted By Big Tech In Super Bowl Ads

Some Super Bowl commercials are ads. And some are warning shots.

February 10, 2026
See all posts