Workers Rush To Repair Huge Hole In WTC 'Bathtub'

New York One News ^ | 3/21/02

[areafiftyone]

Crews at the World Trade Center site are rushing to fix a 90-foot-wide hole in the retaining wall that keeps out ground water.

The concrete wall, known as the bathtub, has sprung some small leaks, and according to the New York Times, the ground water is now only about a foot below the lower rim of the hole.

When a huge hole was dug out of Lower Manhattan to build the foundation for the World Trade Center more than 30 years ago, workers constructed the wall to keep the nearby waters of the Hudson River from seeping in through the earth. The seven-story pit is now almost all that remains of the World Trade Center after months of removing debris. The collapse of the south tower tore the large gash in the wall September 11, but the extent the damage was not known until the excavation reached the lower levels just recently.

[dead]

What about the PATH tubes over to Jersey?

The WTC Path line has been out since 9/11. It only had one Manhattan stop.

I don’t think the 33rd street line (with about 6 Manhattan stops) would be affected.

Of course with all the power lines and other essentials down there, all sorts of bad-for-business side effects are possible.

[hellinahandcart]

Yeah, I read that article. It would go something like this:

Bathtub wall collapses.
Hudson River comes in.
World Financial Center buildings topple over into resulting lake.

I don't even want to think about it. I feel like I've seen my quota of buildings falling down this year.

[CasearianDaoist]

Don't know but the WTC/Exchange PLace tunnels are the deepest tunnels downtown.

[wheezer]

Yup, your three short sentences sum it up perfectly.

Quite a scarey scenario.

[wheezer]

Also, when you consider the walls of the bathtub where originally held up by the sub floors of the WTC....then after 9-11 by the actual debris of the wreckage.The engineers and workers have done a damn good job of avoiding the flooding scenario to date.

[aimhigh]

Bathtub wall collapses.
Hudson River comes in.
World Financial Center buildings topple over into resulting lake.

Add one more;
Environmentalists file suit to prevent development in new wetland area.

[Some hope remaining.]

Sounds like that retaining wall is destroying a wetland. Better take it out and let the area flood. /sarcasm

[firebrand]

and other downtown folks: be aware.

I think I'll be taking the snail trail for a while (NYC buses), especially when I head below Herald Square.

[codebreaker]

Better make sure it is a tourist double decker bus..

[stanz]

If that ever happens, I hope I'm already out of here. We're on the 45th floor, but I'd hate to be stranded in case of the subways flooding (or my lobby at 1 Liberty)

[sixmil]

Check this out:

Construction workers in rain suits try to plug up a small leak in the retaining wall, known as the bathtub, Friday, March 22, 2002, as water sprays out from the hole at the World Trade Center site in New York. Workers digging into rubble of the World Trade Center's south tower have discovered a 90-foot gap elsewhere in the bathtub, but officials said Thursday there was no imminent danger of collapse or flood. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)