The Sandhogs of New York - out of sight and underground, the many Irish immigrants who dug as deep under the Big Apple as skyscrapers are high. From laying the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, to New York's subway and tunnels.
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.