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@@ -55,10 +49,7 @@ And winter — from the corrosive rock salt used on streets and sidewalks to “freeze-thaw” cycles that weaken pipes — makes infrastructure problems even worse.In the late 1800s, many of the city’s overhead utilities were buried to lessen the exposure to winter weather. “People think it’s all protected and safe, but it’s really not,” said Patrick McHugh, vice president of electrical engineering and planning for Con Edison, which maintains about 90,000 miles of underground cable in the city.
@@ -66,11 +57,7 @@ “You have water, sewage, electricity and gas down there, and people don’t appreciate the effort that goes into keeping all that working,” he added.Image
Rock salt on icy streets can cause mayhem below them
@@ -95,10 +80,7 @@ To alleviate the threat, the officials said, the utility switched most of its manhole covers to vented ones that allow gases to escape, “so they cannot form a combustible amount,” Mr. McHugh said.“It also lets smoke escape, which can tip off the public to notify the authorities,” he added.
@@ -109,25 +91,17 @@ Even this past January, which was unseasonably mild, there were 750 leaks, Con Edison officials said.Image
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‘Freeze-thaws’ linked to climate change can imperil utilities
@@ -147,10 +121,7 @@ Along the city’s roughly 6,500 miles of water mains, there are typically between 400 and 600 breaks a year, he added. The majority occur in winter, when the cold can make older cast-iron mains brittle.Environmental Protection officials said the department repaired 75 water-main breaks in January, including one in Lower Manhattan that disrupted rush-hour subway service and another on the West Side that snarled traffic and left nearby buildings without water for hours.
@@ -158,25 +129,17 @@ The city’s 7,500 miles of sewer lines are less affected by cold weather because they are generally buried deeper than other utilities, below the frost line, agency officials said.Image
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How to replace century-old utilities: slowly, and carefully
@@ -193,25 +156,17 @@ Some pipes that are more than a century old hold up because they were built with a thicker grade of cast iron, according to Environmental Protection Department officials. For less healthy ones, the agency has invested more than $1 billion in the past five years — with an additional $1.4 billion budgeted over the next five years — for upgrades and replacements. New pipes will be made of a more durable, graphite-rich cast iron known as ductile iron.Image
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Construction during the winter isn’t always a good idea
@@ -222,10 +177,7 @@ Digging by hand is also a challenge in frozen ground, so many excavations that are close to pipes and other utilities are put off, Mr. Michaels said.And asphalt is harder to obtain because it must be kept and transported at high temperatures, he added.
@@ -236,25 +188,17 @@ Even the basic task of locating utilities under the street can be complicated because infrastructure has been added piecemeal over the decades.Image
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Almost 1.8 million potholes filled since de Blasio took office
@@ -271,8 +215,6 @@ Simply put, more freeze-thaw cycles result in more potholes, he said. Currently, the department has 25 crews repairing potholes. During peak pothole-repair season in early March, that number can expand to more than 60.Still, the department is continually resurfacing the city’s more than 6,000 miles of streets and 19,000 lane miles. Each year, agency officials said, it uses more than one million tons of asphalt to repave more than 1,300 lane-miles of street. @@ -280,22 +222,16 @@
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