ABSTRACT
With a budget of $4.3 Billion, the East Side Access (ESA) tunneling project is the largest transportation project ever undertaken by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It will provide to Long Island Commuters a direct access to Manhattan’s East Side via a new rail line between the Harold Interlocking in Queens and Grand Central Terminal (GCT) in Manhattan. The lower level of the existing 63rd Street tunnel will be utilized, and new connecting tunnels on both sides of the East River will be constructed. One of the major challenges of this project is to minimize impacts imposed by tunnel construction on the overlying operating facilities which include Metro North Railroad (MNR) tunnels, New York City Transit subway tunnels, GCT and viaduct and building foundations within GCT complex and along the tunnel alignment.
This paper summarizes the key challenges facing the design engineers in the Manhattan segments of the ESA project.
