Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
ENGINEERS
JOURNAL
Vol. 69 Fall 1.ssue 1983
-CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE I
In This Issue
President's Corner........ ;............................
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
by Robert Diamond and
Vincent R. Ricciardi, P.E...................... 2
Utility Location and Coordination
Council by Arthur Asserson, P.E.......... 27
The Brooklyn Bridge Centennial - 1983
by David Caplan, P.E. .......................... 35
Proclamation
Mayor Edward I. Koch ......................... 41
Rehabilitation of the Brooklyn
Bridge by John J. Lopuch, P.E............. 42
Digester Gas for Energy Conservation
by John W. Townsend .......................... 49
Published Three Times a Municipal Engineer of the Year................ 57
Year by The Municipal
Engineers of The City of Municipal Engineers Inspections............... 59
New York.
Installation of New Officers ...................... 63
Scholarship Program ................................ 64
Second Awards_ of Scholarships................ 66
Meetings of the Board of Directors .......... 67
Meetings of the General Membership ....... 75
The Municipal Engineers Journal
Exhibit I
Original drawing of Atlantic Avenue Tunnel as it appeared in 1844
2
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
INTRODUCTION
Discovery of The Legendary Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
Buried below the feet of New Yorkers, under one of the most
heavily traveled streets in the heart of downtown Brooklyn, lies a
unique and truly inspiring municipal engineering treasure, the
Atlantic Avenue Tunnel. It is the oldest subway tunnel in the world.
The tunnel was built in 1844 by the Long Island Railroad Com
pany and was the last leg of a rail link between farms on eastern
Long Island and the busy Brooklyn waterfront. In 1859 steam loco
motives were banned in Brooklyn and steam rail traffic in the tunnel
came to a halt. In 1861, the tunnel was sealed up and forgotten. Until
the present day, this remarkably well-preserved and outstanding
example of early subway tunnel design and construction, appeared
to be consigned to oblivion, were it not for the dogged determina
tion, research, ingenuity and courage of a young Brooklyn engineer
ing student, Robert Diamond.
In December 1979, when he first heard of the legendary Atlantic
Avenue Tunnel on a local radio broadcast, Mr. Diamond became
intrigued with the story. According to the report, it was a legend,
nothing more; however, his research of old maps, historical references
and other tantalizing clues convinced him of the existence of the
tunnel. Although finding an entrance had eluded other searchers for
over a century, this fact only served to further whet his curiosity.
Finally in Spring of 1980, his perseverance paid off, when his
research turned up a full-page lavishly illustrated story on the tunnel
in the July 23, 1911 issue of the now-defunct Brooklyn Eagle. The
article described how a 75 man search party organized by the news
paper failed to find any trace of an entrance to the tunnel. Also in the
same text was a statement that the reporter who had written the
article had found blueprints of the tunnel in the basement of
Borough Hall when it was being cleaned out. Although the incident
had occurred 69 years earlier, Mr. Diamond's intuition that the
plans might still be in existence proved correct. In June 1980 after an
exhaustive search in the Topographical Bureau of Brooklyn's
Borough Hall, he located the precious documents he was seeking. A
study of the plans indicated a manhole entry into the tunnel.
Shortly thereafter on July 28, 1980, Robert Diamond was the first
(and only) person to enter and explore the tunnel, and what had
been a dream became a reality.
4
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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Original Map showing Long Island Railroad as part of New York to Boston Rail System (circa 1844)
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
One of the results of the direct access to the East River waterfront
was that all of the Long Island produce previously sent to Con
necticut, was now brought to Brooklyn's South Ferry. This activity
further fueled the explosive growth of the new independent City of
Brooklyn. Prior to the building of the tunnel, all freight and pas
senger traffic from Long Island bound for New York had to be
transferred from rail cars to horse-drawn wagons in order to cross a
steep ridge located just east of the ferry slip. This was necessary
because the small steam locomotives of that era could not negotiate
the steep grades. See Exhibit 4 for a drawing of one of these
locomotives.
Therefore, another explanation offered for the tunnel being built
is that it was meant to solve a problem. The tunnel permitted trains
to reach the waterfront directly, without the necessity, expense and
inconvenience of transferring to horse-drawn conveyances to com
plete the journey.
While there may be one or more reasons for the building of the
tunnel, there appears to be no disagreement on the historical
recorded reason which resulted in the tunnel being shut down and
Exhibit 4
Small steam locomotive could not negotiate steep grades.
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
10
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
12
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
charcoal, bits and pieces of bottles and other debris, indicated possi
ble evidence of such an operation.
(11) Train whistles and vibrations can still be heard and felt on
quiet nights along Atlantic Avenue.
(12) The tunnel is supposedly infested with huge man-eating rats.
Obvrously not true, although the 120 year old skeleton of a 2' long
rat was found.
A dozen examples should suffice for our purposes. Perhaps, in the
near future, when and if the tunnel should ever be completely opened
up, some light will be cast on these and other stories.
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
Exhibit 5
Robert Diamond at unmarked manhole entrance to tunnel.
Atlantic Avenue and Court Street
14
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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Exhibit 8
Temporary track and mining car used in trenching phase.
18
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
Exhibit 9
Volunteer crew in completed trenched and sheeted area
under Con Ed duct bank
wood stair using the new built-up fill as a foundation. The actual
trenching work was done by building a mining car out of plywood
panels and heavy rubber wheels, with one end hinged for ease of
dumping. The car ran on wood "tracks" which had raised side "rails"
to minimize the possibility of "derailment." See Exhibit 8 for details
of track. The custom-made car worked and the band of volunteers
excavated a trench 4 ft. wide by 5 ft. high or wide enough for 2 people
to walk through side by side and standing up. It was even necessary
to use horizontal sheeting in one area when a Con Ed duct bank
traverses the tunnel, see Exhibit 9. As an extra precaution against
intruders Diamond installed a locked door here.
When the trenching phase was finished, the second task of install
ing a wood stair was completed by assembling the necessary compo
nents underground and using the newly displaced fill as a base. See
Exhibits 10 and 11, which show the wall area before and after stair
installation. For additional details see Exhibit 8.
The third objective of illuminating the tunnel was accomplished
by bringing in power tapped from street lights at both the east and
west ends of the tunnel. In addition to having power from 2 sources,
this arrangement also reduces the size of wire cable required. Cable
entry into the tunnel at west end is via a small abandoned gas test
pipe, and at the east end is through the manhole used for entrance.
Fluorescent lighting (to save power and further minimize wire sizes
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
Exhibit 10
View of west side of concrete wall before installation of wood stair. Note
chain ladder and access opening
20
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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Exhibit 11
View of west side of concretre wall after installation of wood stair. Note: (I)
fill displaced by trenching on other side of wall (2) enlarged access opening
(3) overhead fluorescent light.
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
Exhibit 12
Robert Diamond describing details of overhead ventilator shaft to tour
group on Visitation Day, October 1982
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The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
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The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
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The Municipal Engineers Journal
REFERENCES
(I) Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 23, 191 l issue
(2) History of the City of Brooklyn, Volumes 2 and 3, by
Henry R. Stiles, 1860
(3) The Long Island Railroad: A Comprehensive History
by Vincent Seyfried
(4) History of the City of Brooklyn, Volume 2, by the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1893
(5) Original Tunnel Plans, Topographical Bureau,
Brooklyn Borough Hall
(6) Long Island Star, various issues 1836 and 1844
(7) Brooklyn Daily Eagle, various issues, 1852, 1859, 1861
and 1876
(8) Proceedings of Brooklyn Board of Aldermen, various
excerpts from 1854, 1855, 1859 and 1860
(9) New York State Laws, Chapters 444 and 484, 1859
(10) Brooklyn & Kings County Record, 1855
(11) Map of Brooklyn, 1855
(12) Historical Sketch of the City of Brooklyn by
J. T. Bailey, 1840
(13) Brooklyn Village: 1816-1834, Wold, 1863
(14) Drawing of Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, by Office of the
Borough President of Brooklyn, Division of
Substructures, 1916
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author wishes to thank Sebastian J. Scialabba, P.E., for his
invaluable assistance in the preparation of this paper. His technical
advice and various contributions to the graphic exhibits and the text
are gratefully acknowledged and appreciated.
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C-608