OPEN-CUT TUNNELING.
When a tunnel or rapid-transit subway has to be constructed at a small depth below the surface, the excavation is generally performed more economically by making an open cut than by subterranean tunneling proper. The necessary condition of small depth which makes open-cut tunneling desirable is most generally found in constructing rapid-transit subways or tunnels under city streets. This fact introduces the chief difficulties encountered in such work, since the surface traffic makes it necessary to obstruct the streets as little as possible, and has led to the development of the several special methods commonly employed in performing it.
Subways are usually constructed under and along important streets where electric cars are running. The engineers have taken advantage of the presence of these lines to facilitate the construction of subways. In New York, for instance, the tracks of the electric lines were supported by cast-iron yokes 4 or 5 ft. apart and were surrounded by concrete, leaving only a large hollow space in the middle for the wires and trolleys. The rails from 40 to 60 ft. long formed almost a solid concrete structure for their entire length. The tracks and the street surface were supported by horizontal beams inserted underneath the tracks. These were the caps of bents constructed underground whose rafters were finally resting on the subgrade of the proposed subway.
The various methods for constructing the subways may be classified as follows: (1) The single wide trench method; (2) the single narrow longitudinal trench method; (3) the parallel longitudinal trench method; (4) the slice method.
Single Longitudinal Trench.
—The simplest manner by which to construct open-cut tunnels is to open a single cut or trench the full width of the tunnel masonry. This trench is strutted by means of side sheetings of vertical planks, held in place by transverse braces extending across the trench and abutting against longitudinal timbers laid against the sheeting plank. The lining is built in this trench, and is then filled around and above with well-rammed earth, after which the surface of the ground is restored. An especial merit of the single longitudinal trench method of open-cut tunneling is that it permits the construction of the lining in a single piece from the bottom up, thus enabling better workmanship and stronger construction than when the separate parts are built at different times. The great objection to the method when it is used for building subways under city streets is, that it occupies so much room that the street usually has to be closed to regular traffic. For this reason the single longitudinal trench method is seldom employed, except in those portions of city subways which pass under public squares or parks where room is plenty.
This method was followed in the construction of the New York subway, Section 2, along Elm St., a new street to be opened to traffic after the subway had been completed, and at other points where local conditions allowed it.
Fig. 112.—Diagram Showing Sequence of Construction in Open-Cut Tunnels.
A modification of this method was used in Contract Section 6, on upper Broadway. The street at this point is very wide, so by opening a trench as wide as the proposed four-track line of the subway there still remained room enough for ordinary traffic. The electric car tracks were supported by means of trusses 60 or 70 ft. long, which were laid in couples parallel to the tracks and which rested on firm soil. The soil under the car tracks was removed, beginning with transversal cuts to receive the needles which were tied to the lower chord of the trusses by means of iron stirrups. After the excavation had reached the subgrade, posts were erected to support the needles thus forming bents upon which the tracks rested. The trusses were removed and advanced to another section of the tunnel, and, in the clear space left, the subway was built from foundation up.
The Single Narrow Longitudinal Trench.
—This method was used on Contract Section 5, of the New York subway in order to comply with the peculiar conditions of the traffic along 42nd St. On this street, on account of the New York Central Station, there is a constant heavy traffic, while pedestrians use the northern sidewalks almost exclusively. A single longitudinal trench was then opened along the south side, and from this trench all the work of excavation and construction was carried on. At first the steel structure of the subway was erected in the trench and then a small heading was driven and strutted under and across the surface-car tracks. Afterward heavy I-beams were inserted, which rested with one end on top of the steel bents and the other end blocked to the floor of the excavation. These I-beams were located 5 ft. apart and they supported the surface of the street by means of longitudinal planks. The soil was removed from the wide space underneath the I-beams and the subway was constructed from the foundation up. When the structure had been completed, the packing was placed between the roof of the structure and the surface of the street, the I-beams withdrawn and the voids filled in.
Parallel Longitudinal Trenches.
—The parallel longitudinal trench method of open-cut tunneling consists in excavating two narrow parallel trenches for the side walls, leaving the center core to be removed after the side walls have been built. The diagram, [Fig. 112], shows the sequence of operations in this method. The two trenches No. 1 are first excavated a little wider than the side wall masonry, and strutted as shown by [Fig. 113]. At the bottoms of these trenches a foundation course of concrete is laid, as shown by [Fig. 114], if the ground is soft; or the masonry is started directly on the natural material, if it is rock. From the foundations the walls are carried up to the level of the springing lines of the roof arch, if an arch is used; or to the level of its ceiling, if a flat roof is used. After the completion of the side walls, the portion of the excavation shown at No. 2, [Fig. 112], is removed a sufficient depth to enable the roof arch to be built. When the arch is completed, it is filled above with well-rammed earth, and the surface is restored. The excavation of part No. 3 inclosed by the side walls and roof arch is carried on from the entrances and from shafts left at intervals along the line.
Fig. 113.—Sketch Showing Method of Timbering Open-Cut Tunnels, Double Parallel Trench Method.
Fig. 114.—Side-Wall Foundation Construction Open-Cut Tunnels.
A modification of the method just described was employed in constructing the Paris underground railways. It consists in excavating a single longitudinal trench along one side of the street, and building the side wall in it as previously described. When this side wall is completed to the roof, the right half of part No. 2, [Fig. 112], is excavated to the line AB, and the right-hand half of the roof arch is built. The space above the arch is then refilled and the surface of the street restored, after which the left-hand trench is dug and the side wall and roof-arch masonry is built just as in the opposite half. Generally the work is prosecuted by opening up lengths of trench at considerable intervals along the street and alternately on the left-and right-hand sides. By this method one-half of the street width is everywhere open to traffic, the travel simply passing from one side of the street to the other to avoid the excavation. When the lining has been completed, the center core of earth inclosed by it is removed from the entrances and shafts, leaving the tunnel finished except for the invert and track construction, etc.
Another modification of the parallel longitudinal trenches method was used in the construction of the New York subway. A narrow longitudinal trench was excavated on one side of the street near the sidewalk. Meanwhile the pavement of half of the street was removed and a wooden platform of heavy planks, supported by longitudinal beams which were buried in the ground, was substituted. Then small cuts underneath the car tracks were directed from the side trench and heavy beams or needles were placed in these cuts, which also reached the longitudinal beams of the wooden platform. The needles were wedged and blocked to the car track structure and the beams. They were temporarily supported by cribs built from underneath as the excavation progressed. When the subgrade was reached, vertical and batter posts were inserted to support the needles, thus forming regular timber bents underground. In the space thus left open the subway was constructed to the middle of the street. While the work was going on as described, another longitudinal narrow trench was excavated at some distance on the other side of the street. From this trench, the work of constructing the other half of the subway was carried on in the manner just described. After the work had been completed, the timbers removed, the voids filled in and the pavement of the street restored, another equal section was attacked on both sides of the street.
Transverse Trenches.
—The transverse trench or “slice” method of open-cut tunneling has been employed in one work, the Boston Subway. This method is described in the specifications for the work prepared by the chief engineer, Mr. H. A. Carson, M. Am. Soc. C. E., as follows:—
“Trenches about 12 ft. wide shall be excavated across the street to as great a distance and depth as is necessary for the construction of the subway. The top of this excavation shall be bridged during the night by strong beams and timbering, whose upper surface is flush with the surface of the street. These beams shall be used to support the railway tracks as well as the ordinary traffic. In each trench a small portion or slice of the subway shall be constructed. Each slice of the subway thus built is to be properly joined in due time to the contiguous slices. The contractor shall at all times have as many slice-trenches in process of excavation, in process of being filled with masonry, and in process of being back-filled with earth above the completed masonry, as is necessary for the even and steady progress of the work towards completion at the time named in the contract.”
In regard to the success of this method Mr. Carson, in his fourth annual report on the Boston Subway work, says:
“The method was such that the street railway tracks were not disturbed at all, and the whole surface of the street, if desired, was left in daytime wholly free for the normal traffic.”
Tunnels on the Surface.
—It occasionally happens when filling-in is to take place in the future, or where landslides are liable to bury the tracks, that a railway tunnel has to be built on the surface of the ground. In such cases the construction of the tunnel consists simply in building the lining of the section on the ground surface with just enough excavation to secure the proper grade and foundation. Generally the lining is finished on the outside with a waterproof coating, and is sometimes banked and partly covered with earth to protect the masonry from falling stones and similar shocks from other causes. A recent example of tunnel construction of this character was described in “Engineering News” of Sept. 8, 1898. In constructing the Golden Circle Railroad, in the Cripple Creek mining district of Colorado, the line had to be carried across a valley used as a dumping-ground for the refuse of the surrounding mines. To protect the line from this refuse, the engineer constructed a tunnel lining consisting of successive steel ribs, filled between with masonry.
Concluding Remarks.
—From the fact that the open-cut method of tunneling consists first in excavating a cut, and second in covering this cut to form an underground passageway, it has been named the “cut-and-cover” method of tunneling. The cut-and-cover method of tunneling is almost never employed elsewhere than in cities, or where the surface of the ground has to be restored for the accommodation of traffic and business. When it is not necessary to restore the original surface, as is usually the case with tunnels built in the ordinary course of railway work, it would obviously be absurd to do so except in extraordinary cases. In a general way, therefore, it may be said that the cut-and-cover method of construction is confined to the building of tunnels under city streets; and the discussion of this kind of tunnels follows logically the general description of the open-cut method of tunneling which has been given.