NYC’s Giant Water Tunnel Begins Work On Final Shafts, Following 50 Years Of Construction
arrow The site of Shaft 17B-1 in Long Island City, Queens, April 8th, 2021 Nathan Kensinger for Gothamist
Out on the industrial back streets of Queens sit two dusty, gravel-covered lots. Hemmed in by auto-body shops, graffiti-covered walls and barbed wire fences, one houses an abandoned trailer and a collection of car doors, while the other is home to three feral cats: Rosie, Blackie and Angel.
Here is where the final phase of a 50-year long journey to create a backup for the city’s water supply will soon break ground, with workers blasting out two enormous shafts, burrowing down more than 600 feet.