Comments on: Crumbling infrastructure? What crumbling infrastructure?

By: Zuzu

Zuzu — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:45:58 +0000

And Jesus, yes, it rains in California. I’ve been there during rainy season. Yikes!

By: Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:33:32 +0000

Every company I’ve ever worked at has had trouble with its network connection when it rains, so I wonder if it’s not just the old parts that are causing the problem.

Of course, I’m in sunny California, where builders seem to forget from year to year that, yes, it really does rain here.

By: Linnaeus

Linnaeus — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:29:21 +0000

Amazingly, almost all my students got it although it took me more than 90 minutes to get here from Astoria…

90 minutes? That’s it? Shit, it would take me a four-hour+ flight or at least a week on the road.

Oh, wait. You weren’t talking about that Astoria.

By: Zuzu

Zuzu — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:42:07 +0000

I have to say, most of the time it’s a really good system. In fact, I have been really impressed at how quickly the MTA gets things running after a major non-weather-related disaster, such as 9/11 and the blackout.

But weather, especially wet and cold weather, really throws it for a loop, and that has to do with the age of the electrics and where they’re located (i.e., in the third rail vs. overhead). Where there are spots where the third rail or switches can get flooded and short out, or freeze, you get trouble. This is especially bad where you have stations where the elevated tracks go underground, or where they run along the ground, such as with the B/Q in Brooklyn, and water has a chance to pool. If the whole system were either elevated or belowground, I doubt it would be quite as bad.

By: NewsCat

NewsCat — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:41:41 +0000

I don’t live in New York, but after reading bits and pieces from Alan Weisman’s recent book “The World Without Us” the New York subway system is literally going to be the first thing to go in a disaster.

It’s the water. The book spells out more clearly than most New Yorkers want to know that basically mankind has to keep pumping water out of the subway even on sunny days. It’s kind of a herculean effort to keep the subways going even without a major rainfall.

By: bean

bean — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:34:01 +0000

I made it in to my office after an aborted trip to the subway station (I returned home),a 30-min wait for the A train (later), a long ride in an un-airconditioned A car, and then a walk. Not nearly as bad as many people, but still. It’s really shameful.

By: Zuzu

Zuzu — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:09:46 +0000

I just decided that discretion was the better part of valor and didn’t bother going in. I was doing research anyway, so if I can bill 4 hours today on Westlaw, I’m good.

In any event, as of noon, the F wasn’t running out here, and the B/Q, which is my other option, still had a tree to be cleared off the tracks.

By: Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:55:07 +0000

Amazingly, almost all my students got it although it took me more than 90 minutes to get here from Astoria…