Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 | Page 7

Chief Tunnel Inspectors. | | Tunnel Inspectors. | | Surface Inspectors. | | Clerks. | | | +--(ALIGNMENT) | | | | | +--Ass't. Engineers. | | Chiefs of Parties. | | Instrumentmen. | | Rodmen. | | Chainmen. | | Rear Chainmen. | | Laborers. | | | +--(OFFICE STAFF) | | | +--Draftsmen. | Field Office Clerks. | Cement Warehousemen. | Janitors. | Messengers. | +--(MEDICAL DEPARTMENT) | | | CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER | Ass't. Medical Officer. | | +--(BERGEN HILL TUNNELS) | | | RESIDENT ENGINEER | Assistant Resident Engineer | | | +--Assistant Engineer. | | Instrumentmen. | | Rodmen. | | Chainmen. | | | +--Inspectors. | | Cement Warehousemen. | | | +--Clerk. | Janitors. | | +--(METAL INSPECTION) | CHIEF METAL INSPECTOR Metal Inspectors. Clerks. ]
The organization of the engineering staff is shown on the diagram, Fig. 1. In the beginning of 1902 and during the period of making studies, additional borings, and preliminary triangulations, and prior to making the contract plans and specifications, James Forgie, M. Am. Soc. C. E., was appointed Chief Assistant Engineer by the writer. To him all the Resident Engineers and other heads of the Engineering Departments reported.
The work was divided into three Residencies:
1.--The Terminal Station-West, under the charge of B. F. Cresson, Jr., M. Am. Soc. C. E., Resident Engineer, comprising the work from the east side of Ninth Avenue to the east side of Tenth Avenue, including excavation, retaining and face walls, and the extensive work of underpinning Ninth Avenue with its surface and elevated railroads and other structures.
2.--The River Tunnels, under the charge of B. H. M. Hewett, M. Am. Soc. C. E., General Resident Engineer, and Mr. H. F. D. Burke and William Lowe Brown, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Resident Engineers, including the land tunnels from the east side of Tenth Avenue, New York City, to the commencement of the iron-lined tunnels, and extending westward from there to the Weehawken Shaft, New Jersey.
3.--The Bergen Hill Tunnels, under the charge of F. Lavis, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Resident Engineer, including the rock tunnels from the Weehawken Shaft to the Hackensack Portal on the west side of the Palisades, all in New Jersey.
Paul A. Seurot, M. Am. Soc. C. E., acted as Office Engineer in charge of the drawing office, and Mr. J. Soderberg as Mechanical Engineer in charge of the mechanical drafting. Prior to the construction of the above works Mr. C. J. Crowley acted as Resident Engineer on the construction of the Weehawken Shaft, and J. F. Rodenbough, Assoc. M. Am. Soc. C. E., on that of the Manhattan Shaft.
Table 1 shows the quantities of certain materials and other statistics regarding this Division.
TABLE 1.
------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------- | Bergen | River | Term. | Hill. | Tunnels. | Sta.-W. +---------+-----------+---------- | | | Excavation disposed of (or displaced), | | | in cubic yards | 263,000 | 238,995 | 517,000 Cast metal used in tunnel, including | | | cast iron and cast steel, in tons | | 64,265 | Steel bolts used, in tons | | 2,606 | Cement used (concrete and grout), | | | in barrels | 95,000 | 145,500 | 33,000 Concrete, in cubic yards | 95,000 | 75,400 | 18,500 Dynamite for blasting, in pounds | 600,000 | 100,400 | 206,000 Brickwork, in cubic yards | | 4,980 | Structural steel (including Pier 72), | | | in pounds | 50,000 | 3,141,000 | 1,475,000 ------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------
The number of passengers carried on the Elevated Railroad and surface lines of Ninth Avenue during the underpinning of these structures was about 125,000,000.
The Board of Engineers, organized by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in January, 1902, immediately took up the matter of route and grade. The center line, which had been assumed as the center line of 32d Street extended westward, was slightly changed.
The grade adopted was approximately 2% descending westward from Ninth Avenue, which would place the tunnel well below the Government dredging plane of 40 ft. below mean low water at the pier head line; thence westward on a lighter grade still descending until the deepest portion of the river was reached where the top of the rail would be about 90 ft. below mean high water, this location giving sufficient cover over the tunnels to insure stability and guard against the possibility of shipwrecks settling on the tunnels. From this point to the portal an ascending grade of 1.30% was adopted, which gave the lines sufficient elevation to cross over the tracks of the New York, Susquehanna and Western and the Erie Railroads, which run along the westerly base of the Palisades. Owing to the exigencies of construction, these grades in the river were very slightly modified. Plate VII is a plan and profile of the tunnels as constructed.
[Illustration: Plate VII.--Plan, Profile,