“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.
TUNNELS UNDER CITY STREETS.
The three most common purposes of tunnels under city streets are: to provide for the removal of railway tracks from the street surface, and separate the street railway traffic from the vehicular and pedestrian traffic; to provide for rapid transit railways from the business section to the outlying residence districts of the city; and to provide conduits for sewage or subways for water and gas mains, sewers, wires, etc. Within recent years the greatest works of tunneling under city streets have been designed and carried out to furnish improved transit facilities.