The Exhibit is divided into two locations with half of the exhibit at the New York Public Library Science, Industry and Business Library at 188 Madison Ave. at the corner of 34th St., and the other half of the exhibit at Grand Central Terminal in the New York Transit Museum Annex. The exhibit contains some fascinating facts about some of the city’s transportation and infrastructure that many of us may take for granted each day.
The projects the exhibit examines are: The Croton Water filtration plant, City water tunnel 3, the 2nd Ave, subway tunnel, the # 7 subway extension, the trans-Hudson express tunnel, East side access, the Fulton Street transit center, and the World Trade Center Site.
John Ganly, Assistant Director at the Science and Business Library referred to the four projects at the Library as having to do with water, including the Croton filtration plant, the trans-Hudson tunnel, a new water tunnel (tunnel 3), and finally the World Trade Center, though it is not specifically water related, it is at the lowest geographical level in New York.
The exhibit is a collection of photographs, graphics, video, and objects that detail the massive infrastructure projects, including some pretty impressive statistics.
New York City receives its water from three upstate watersheds; a vast system spread over 2,000 square miles, with reservoirs as far as 130 miles away. More than a billion gallons of water a day are delivered to almost nine million people via 6,500 miles of aqueducts, tunnels and pipes. New York City is rare among major cities in that our water is unfiltered; it is by far the largest unfiltered water supply in the country.
As a part of this system, water tunnel #3, though prosaically named, is actually the largest and longest running capital project in New York’s history, and among the largest engineering projects in the world, and it all takes place at 800 feet below ground. The tunnel, when completed by 2013 will range in diameter from 10 to 24 feet and will span 60 miles.
The exhibit also features a series of guest speakers and panel discussions held at the Library and Grand Central Terminal exhibit locations as well as the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn. The speaker series begin on Tuesday March 10th, and run through Tuesday June 9th. All are free and open to the public, as are the exhibits. The exhibits run through July 5th, 2009. The New York Transit Museum has a $5 admission fee. For more information on the exhibit and the speakers series please visit: http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/whatsnew.htm
