Tuesday, August 29, 2023

a 20-inch water main used since 1896, broke in Times Square, and located directly over the subway system, suspending subway service at the Times Sq subway station, and shutting down affected city streets for the day




The water main located 10 to 15 feet below street level burst at 3 a.m. on Seventh Avenue, near Times Square, flooded streets and sent water cascading into the subway system, shutting down several Midtown intersections and temporarily suspending subway service in the area.

As crews work to excavate and repair the broken water system, roads remain closed on Seventh Avenue, between West 42nd and West 39th streets, and on West 40th Street between Eighth and Sixth avenues. Officials said they expect them to remain closed throughout the day.

The flooding forced the MTA to partially suspend subway service on the 1 and 3 train lines and reroute 2 trains. Just before 11 a.m., the agency said all three lines were up and running, though with extensive delays.


It was about a decade ago that it seemed every month a century old water main was breaking and causing flooding and damage to California cities, I guess it's not news that the cities can't afford to do inspections, maintenance, or replacement based on age and statistical data that shows how likely they are to not continue to function. But the insurance companies are analyzing every iota of data about driving, to ram in higher costs to customers. 
Makes me wonder, why aren't these millions of dollar events like this, worth the same focused analytics, and prevention, in cities that can afford to run emergency crews to cope with breaks, on over time, at union scale? 

No comments:

Post a Comment