Transforming the Underground City … Next Stop: The 21st Century

An Exploration of Eight Current, Massive Underground Transportation and Water Projects That Will Modernize New York, Sponsored by The New York Public Library and the New York Transit Museum

The vast underground network of tunnels in New York City is the focus of an historic exhibition allowing visitors into a world unknown and featuring the much-discussed, but little understood mega-projects bringing the City’s transportation infrastructure into the 21st Century. The exhibition, titled The Future Beneath Us: 8 Great Projects Under New York, is the result of a unique collaboration between The New York Public Library, one of the pre-eminent libraries of the world, and the New York Transit Museum, custodian of the most extensive collection of urban transportation materials in the United States. The exhibit will be shown in two locations in Midtown Manhattan: The Science, Industry and Business Library’s Healy Hall, at 188 Madison Avenue, and the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex and Store at Grand Central Terminal. The exhibit will be on view from February 17, 2009 through July 5, 2009. Admission is free.

The Science, Industry and Business Library will draw on The New York Public Library’s impressive resources in an exhibit focusing on the construction of City Tunnel #3, a 60-mile water tunnel from the Catskills to New York City; the massive water filtration plant being built in The Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park; the new Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, which will double rail capacity between New York City and New Jersey; and the transportation and infrastructure undertakings at the World Trade Center site.

The images on view include an anonymous lithograph from the October 13, 1842 Croton Water Celebration.  The lithograph, which comes from the Phelps Stokes Collection at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallace Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at The New York Public Library, was featured on the cover of the sheet music for the “Croton Ode,” sung during the celebration.  Other images include an historical view of City Tunnel #2 looking into the access drift from the tunnel section showing parts of the steel interlining in place after riveting, along with a current map showing the existing portions of Water Tunnel #3 and the proposed tunneling for the remainder of the project.

The exhibition features historical photos of the construction of the numbers 1 and 9 subway lines in 1916, along with a current Oculus exterior-rendering for the Santiago Calatrava designed World Trade Center Hub.  It also includes an historic photo of the Jersey Tunnel Portal in 1905, featuring the Pennsylvania twin tunnels entering Bergen Hill at the south end of the Palisade, and a current rendering of the modern New York Penn Station, depicting the network of escalators that will alleviate crowding.

“New York City’s transit and vast infrastructure are key focuses in the collections at SIBL,” said John Ganly, Assistant Director for SIBL Collections. “Our ability to document the past allows for a unique perspective into the future. We welcome the opportunity to present a joint exhibit with the New York Transit Museum on current efforts that impact the development of our great City.”

At the Transit Museum’s Grand Central Gallery, four mega-projects that will dramatically change the face of New York City’s transportation system will be highlighted:  the East Side Access project connecting Long Island Rail Road’s Main and Port Washington lines to a new terminal beneath Grand Central; the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway project, which will eventually provide a long-anticipated two track line from 125th Street to Lower Manhattan; the new Fulton Street Transit Center uniting six existing Lower Manhattan subway stations; and the ambitious extension of the #7 subway line to the Hudson Yards. Stories of each of these mammoth undertakings will be told with archival materials; objects from the Transit Museum’s vast collection; as well as models, architectural drawings, video and photographs of the impressive construction as it takes place many stories below ground.

“Mostly, New Yorkers hear about the cost and timing of the City’s infrastructure improvements.  This exhibition will show the scope and complexity of these gigantic projects, revealing just what it takes to expand an already crowded and thriving city, while that city continues to function at breakneck speed,”  said Gabrielle Shubert, Director of the New York Transit Museum.

The two exhibitions are located just 9 city blocks apart, each in an historic landmarked building – Grand Central Terminal and the former Altman’s department store that now houses The Science, Industry and Business Library.  In addition to including current status and design information, the exhibit will illustrate the future impact these projects will have on the quality of life and economic and social well-being of New Yorkers.  A comprehensive array of educational programs, lectures and tours will be available to the public, including guided tours of several project sites.

Combined, these mega-projects comprise the greatest infrastructure advancements seen in generations. This joint exhibit will speak to experts and laymen alike.

The Future Beneath Us: 8 Great Projects Under New York will be on display from February 17, 2009 to July 5, 2009 in The New York Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business Library, located at Madison Avenue and 34th Street and the Transit Museum’s Annex in Grand Central Terminal in the Shuttle passage, adjacent to the Stationmaster’s office.  Exhibition hours at SIBL are Monday, Friday and Saturday, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  Hours at the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex and Store are Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and weekends from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  The NYPL and NYTM are closed on all federal holidays.  Admission is free in both locations.  For more information, call (212) 592-7000 or visit www.nypl.org.

The New York Public Library and The New York Transit Museum are grateful for the assistance of Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., a consulting, engineering, planning and construction  firm headquartered in New York City; The General Contractors Association of New York, Inc., and other donors, including:

Sponsors:  Granite; The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Stantec; STV; WDF, Inc.

Contributors:  American Council of Engineering Companies of New York; Hazen and Sawyer P.C.; Judlau; New Jersey Transit; Skanska USA Civil

Friends: New York Building Congress and Foundation, Inc.; IH Engineers, PC; Longi Engineering PC

Additionally, New York Transit Museum programs are made possible in part by a grant from Independence Community Foundation, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers – the Humanities and Social Science Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library – and 87 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items, including materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The Library serves some 16 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 25 million users internationally, who access collections and services through the NYPL website, www.nypl.org.

About The New York Transit Museum
The New York Transit Museum, one of the city’s leading cultural institutions, is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The Museum explores the development of the greater New York Metropolitan region through the presentations of exhibitions, tours, educational programs, and workshops dealing with the cultural, social, and technological history of public transportation. Since it’s inception over 30 years ago, the Museum, housed in a historic 1936 IND subway station in Brooklyn Heights, has grown in scope and popularity. As custodian and interpreter of the region’s extensive public transportation networks, the Museum strives to share, through its public programs, this rich and vibrant history with local, regional, and international audiences.  More than 450,000 visitors come to the Transit Museum’s two locations each year.  Over 25,000 schoolchildren are served annually with guided tours and workshops.  The Museum’s collections include over 10,000 objects, several hundred thousand photographs, plus several hundred thousand archival items ranging from maps, drawings, posters and contract books to film and video.

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Contact: Jon Minners | 212-592-7311 |  Jon_Minners@nypl.org