4 ms·

What are those tunnels and whats the purpose behind them? Also -- why so deep -- 800ft? I think (and may be wrong) digging them shallower would be cheaper. 6B v

What are those tunnels and whats the purpose behind them? Also -- why so deep -- 800ft? I think (and may be wrong) digging them shallower would be cheaper. 6B vs f.e. 4B -- that's a lot of cheddar. Also, someone mentioned "garbage" being underground citizen. I think that's wrong. While we have water, electricity and sewage running underground, the fact that garbage is not a part of this rail is really dissapointing. If you live upper west side, try to walk some broadway on a very hot day, before Thursday's garbage pickup. Your eyes will run wet from all the stink from garbage mountains packed everywhere. Literally there are streets where kids are forbidden to be outside because of all the smell and I assume airborne crap. Note, of course you won't see it downtown (the tourist area) where trash is picked up every day. Why there is no major garbage shute system across the city, no idea...

fr0sty 14y ago
> Also, someone mentioned "garbage" being underground citizen. I think that's wrong. It's true. Roosevelt Island has an underground network of "trash-sucking tubes". http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/trash-sucking-island/all/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/trash-sucking-island/...
- msutherl 14y ago
  This is amazing! I had no idea that such a thing existed.
msutherl 14y ago
They're water tunnels. They deliver water from the Reservoir to the New York Metro Area. They're so deep underground for two reasons (1) imagine you have to build a tunnel that should last for the next 150 years – it needs to survive nuclear war, new technologies you've never heard of, meteor strikes – any risk of contamination is unacceptable and (2) more importantly, because the terminals of the tunnels are so low with respect to the reservoir, 95% of the pressure needed to deliver water from the reservoir to all of the buildings in New York is provided by gravity. Only 5% of the pressure comes from pumps. Which is pretty amazing.
Spooky23 14y ago
There are a few reasons -- upstate portions of the aqueducts are larger and built in trenches. As you approach the metropolitan area or mountainous area, the trench method becomes impractical, so the drill narrower tunnels with a steeper slope to force the water to flow more quickly.

fr0sty 14y ago

> Also, someone mentioned "garbage" being underground citizen. I think that's wrong. It's true. Roosevelt Island has an underground network of "trash-sucking tubes". http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/trash-sucking-island/all/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/trash-sucking-island/...

msutherl 14y ago
This is amazing! I had no idea that such a thing existed.

msutherl 14y ago

They're water tunnels. They deliver water from the Reservoir to the New York Metro Area. They're so deep underground for two reasons (1) imagine you have to build a tunnel that should last for the next 150 years – it needs to survive nuclear war, new technologies you've never heard of, meteor strikes – any risk of contamination is unacceptable and (2) more importantly, because the terminals of the tunnels are so low with respect to the reservoir, 95% of the pressure needed to deliver water from the reservoir to all of the buildings in New York is provided by gravity. Only 5% of the pressure comes from pumps. Which is pretty amazing.

Spooky23 14y ago

There are a few reasons -- upstate portions of the aqueducts are larger and built in trenches. As you approach the metropolitan area or mountainous area, the trench method becomes impractical, so the drill narrower tunnels with a steeper slope to force the water to flow more quickly.