Holland Tunnel
It has taken engineers thousands of years to perfect the art of digging tunnels. Today tunnels provide available space for cars and trains, water and sewage, even power and communication lines. However, before cars and trains, tunnels carried only water. The first to use tunnels on a major scale were the Romans. Roman engineers created the most extensive network of tunnels in the ancient world. The Romans built aqueducts to carry water from mountain springs to cities and villages; however, in many instances there were obstacles, such as rock formations, in between the spring and the city of interest. To solve these problems the Romans built tunnels by carving underground chambers and building elegant arch structures to
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However, there were drawbacks to a bridge crossing. A Hudson River bridge would require a minimum clearance of 200 feet for ships to travel to and from the Hudson River ports. Since the Manhattan side of the Hudson did not meet the 200-foot elevation requirement for a bridge, long approaches would have to be built on the New York side. Because the land that was required for these long approaches would require the purchase of very costly Manhattan real estate the bridge idea was rejected in favor of a tunnel.
There are three basic steps to building a stable tunnel. The first step is excavation: engineers dig through the earth with a reliable tool or technique. The second step is support: engineers must support any unstable ground around them while they dig. The final step is lining: engineers add the final touches, like the roadway and lights, when the tunnel is structurally sound.
Three main proposals were submitted for the Hudson river tunnel; The first proposal was a bi-level tunnel measuring 31 feet in diameter. The upper level, which was to carry slower vehicles, was to have an 18½-foot-wide roadway and a clearance of 12 feet, flanked by sidewalks measuring 4½ feet wide. The lower level, which was to be reserved for express vehicles, was to have a 16-foot-wide roadway and a nine-foot clearance. The second proposal which was presented by engineer George Goethals, who would eventually become chief engineer of the Port Authority, and have the
The Roman Empire had various technological innovations such as aqueducts. The Romans were the first to build aqueducts. The system was much like a bridge built on arches, aqueducts were genius because of the mountainous terrain of Rome which made supplying water difficult. Aqueducts were built to supply towns with water from lakes, springs, or rivers. They sloped downhill towards town using gravity in
Ten miles up from the navigation lock, they thought the sediments were firmer so they dug into a piece of dry ground and built what looked like an incongruous, waterless bridge. Five hundred and sixty-six feet long, it stood parallel to the Mississippi and about a thousand yards back from the water: between its abutments were ten piers, framing eleven gates that could be lifted or dropped, opened or shut like
One important feature of the road is that was constructed five feet above high tides by a secure wall, protecting the embankment from the action of the waves. Another concern that the people had about the railroad was the amount of blasting and tunneling required along the line; this was not a object because thousands and thousands of cubic yards of rock were excavated including all the above tunnel for the road. In October 1st, 1851 the Hudson River Railroads was completed and fully operating from New York city to all the way through the East banks of Albany. The Hudson River Railroad soon became a frequent traveler along the Westside of Manhattan Island beginning at 32nd street and then along the Hudson through Yonkers, Peekill, Cold Spring, Tarrytown, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, Rhinebeck, Castleton, and lastly to East Albany. However, "The original southern terminal of the Hudson River Railroad was at St. John's Park on Manhattan's West side." This is important because people who don't know tend to believe that the original terminal is Grand
One of the few people that were going to fully push for this project would be William Tweed, a New York politician that was said to have a hand in every creek and crevice of business in the area of New York both legal and otherwise. Tweed began his career in 1851 by going from a simple fireman into an alderman and from then on he found that he no longer had to depend on honest work from then on and by 1869 or the time when the bridge would start to be build and the same year that its very own author of the great bridge would sacrifice his life for the sake of both his own pride and according to some accounts, the bridge’s success. By 1869, he was reaching the pinnacle of his influence as he was in his prime and doing everything that he set his mind to and this was when he would become the “Boss” of New York and from then on become known as Boss Tweed and he might as well been since judges made decisions based on his request, legislators passed or opposed laws at his will, and both the Mayor and Governor were in his pockets and were at his beck call. This was the Tweed Machine and it controlled every aspect of politics and was the epicenter
The railroad had to gain over 4,000 ft in just 50 miles with a grade of no more than 2-percent, a challenge for Chief Engineer H.A. Sumner. He laid out a very efficient route to gain such altitude, parts of which are still used today, such as the Little and Big Ten Curve. Following the Front Range Foothills, the line snaked west just south of Boulder, near Eldorado Springs. To reach the village of Tolland, 40 miles west of Denver, 33 tunnels were bored. However, the struggles of building the line west were not over
Initially, suspension bridges before 1940 were made of piers, towers, wires, anchorages, and roadways. Piers were the main foundation for the suspension bridges. There usually were two of them, which were made out of cement and were entrenched in ground underneath the body of water that the bridge was spanned across. Towers were built on top of the piers to provide a means of connection for the roadways and wires. Wires were connected to the towers, roadways, and anchorages to provide tension support for the weight of the bridge. The anchorages were large cement platforms that were planted into the ground on either side of the land so that the wires could be connected to it. Lastly, the roadways were the main point of the suspension bridge. They usually were wide enough to provide four lanes of traffic and stretched from one side of the bridge to the other. This was the basic design of the suspension bridges
The Tunnel rested above the preexisting, subterranean subway line. These steel tunnel sections were assembled in Baltimore, Maryland, over 650 kilometers away from Boston, and then transported by boat (Hall, 2006).
building a line that would carry passengers between Washington and New York.” This type of
The Artificial River, the Erie Canal, branches off of the Hudson River and flows through New York, from Albany to Buffalo, for 363 miles until it reaches Lake Erie. The proposal to build the largest man-made waterway at the time was approved in 1808, but some thought it was an outrageous idea that would fail; however, it took only 17 years to prove these people wrong because The Grand Celebration of opening the canal took place in 1825.
•Step 4: The next step was to add a firm foundation to the fosse. This substratum consisted of a layer of sand and stones compacted together.
Commuters who take alternate routes add unnecessary mileage to their car. When a driver avoids the toll continuously the value of their car depletes. The more mileage added to a car, the less desirable for potential buyers it becomes. Not to mention, time becomes arbitrarily wasted when the bridge is avoided only to avoid paying three dollars and seventy-five cents for the toll. The first alternate route that can be taken is Highway 87, which will take you fifty-five minutes and add thirty-nine miles to your car. Another, route locals take is Scenic Highway; you will add double the miles to your odometer and lose twenty-five minutes of vital time. As the facts have stated, the Garcon Point Bridge is the most appropriate transportation route.
Boston’s Big Dig was a massive road infrastructure project planned to improve the flow of traffic, alleviating chronic congestion across Boston and the surrounding commuter areas, and to replace the outdated elevated Central Artery road that effectively split the city in half. The plan was to replace the Existing Central Artery, a crumbling elevated six-lane highway, with an extended underground highway, and a 14-lane two bridge crossing that would Extend Massachusetts Interstate 90 from its former end, south of downtown Boston, through a tunnel under South Boston and Boston Harbor. This project would prove to be a technological marvel and the most technically challenging infrastructure ever undertaken in the US. Building a tunnel underneath
One of the most practical and effective structures the Romans built was the aqueduct. Fresh water was a necessity for any civilization to survive, and Rome found the perfect solution in distributing a water source into different parts of the city. Aqueducts were long and tall pathways for water that could be built in and around the city of Rome. The water came from different sources of water such as rivers. Although the Romans did not invent the idea of aqueducts, they mastered the method of building them. Since the system relies purely on gravity, the angle was important. The Romans calculated the angle of the aqueducts so that water could travel extremely long distances without it being stagnant or it moving too rapidly that it damaged the aqueducts (Messner
Without aqueducts we would not have inventions such as sewage systems, fountains, and toilets, which would be extremely hard to live without. These engineering wonders transported pipelines and into city centers through gravity. These pipelines would also often be lead, stone, or concrete, which was also an invention the ancient romans take credit for. Aqueducts enlightened Roman cities from a dependence on nearby water materials and engaged more in sanitation and health publicity. The transportation of water flourished as far as fifty miles which was very convenient and constantly began to become more popular throughout the
A bridge is a structure providing path over an obstacle. When constructing a bridge, obstacle can be a river, railway track or a valley and the path provided by bridge can be for a road, pedestrians, a railway, pipelines, viaducts to carry water from rich areas to dry cities, or for commercial purpose to host commercial buildings such as restaurants and shops. A bridge can also be laid to reduce the distance of travel which in turn reduces the time to reach the destination.