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

OPINION: Where Cities are Investing, Vision Zero is Working 

As the Vision Zero Network turns 10, it's time to look at what works and what is achievable (a lot!).

November 28, 2025

Friday’s Post-Turkey Headlines Are on Autopilot

While we remain skeptical of driverless vehicles, they do sound nice while in a tryptophan stupor.

November 28, 2025

Book Excerpt Special: Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Program’s Progress’

Class struggle. Infirm secondary superheroes. Suicidal sheep. It’s all in Jonathan Lethem's new collection of short stories, "A Different Kind of Tension." Here's an excerpt — featuring class struggle with cars!

November 26, 2025

Welcome to the Jungle, Wednesday’s Headlines

The COP30 climate summit in the Amazon rain forest exposed world leaders to the effects of climate change, but they still failed to take action.

November 26, 2025

Safety’s Last for Tuesday’s Headlines

A ProPublica investigation found 30 instances where DOT actions under President Trump endanger lives.

November 25, 2025
See all posts