The Second Avenue Subway is driving me nuts… and I live on
First Avenue! Here’s what the scene in
front of my building has looked like for the past few months.
But the way it looks isn’t as much of a problem as the noise
is. There has been lots of drilling,
usually starting at 9:00 a.m. and while they typically wrap up by 4:30,
sometimes we get to enjoy extra special late night and weekend drilling.
So you may be wondering by now why they are doing
construction on First Avenue when it’s called the Second Avenue Subway.
The answer is that they need to move all of the
electricity, gas and water lines that run under Second Avenue to make room for
the subway tunnel and the 72nd Street station.
The other day when I went outside the smell of gas was so
strong that I figured we’d be lucky if we didn’t get blown up. I was a bit comforted however by the fact
that it was Con Ed digging the holes in front of the building that day.
The side streets in the neighborhood are also being closed
off and on. In fact, that’s the work
they are doing at night and on weekends since it means closing down the entire
street.
Although this morning when I went out they had temporarily
closed off 74th Street by parking a very large truck across the
street entrance onto First. Presumably
it was blocked off on York too.
At this point we are being told that they will wrap-up
outside by the end of the month, but I’m not sure I believe it.
And even if it’s true, there’s no telling when they’ll be
back again since the project isn’t due to wrap up until 2016.
In fact, here’s a shot I took in 2010. during one of their previous visits.
I actually have photos of construction in front of the
building from each of the last few years.
Sigh.
PJ
(c) 2012 PJ Lehrer
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