Pile driver

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

Why is there a pile driver going (near Broadway, I think) after 10pm?  It's loud enough to be noticeable on Highland.

Comments

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

It's the construction on highway 93, most likely. This weekend it's at the highway 16 overpass. see http://93fast14.dot.state.ma.us/

I saw them working this one friday night. They have something like 4+ HUGE backhoes and smash the roadbed to smithereens on Friday night, and by Monday morning it's a brand new bridge that can hold rush hour traffic. Very impressive. And loud.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with anyone living nearby but this "instant infrastructure" is pretty neat.

One thing about Caltech in the 1990s was watching buildings sprout up over the summer. "We have money. This *will* happen before the term begins."

"most of the southern rail network was converted from 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge to 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) gauge, then the standard of the Pennsylvania Railroad, over two remarkable days beginning on Monday, May 31, 1886. Over a period of 36 hours, tens of thousands of workers pulled the spikes from the west rail of all the broad gauge lines in the South, moved them 3 in (76 mm) east and spiked them back in place."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_gauge#United_States

Made me wonder how fast high speed rail could be built if we hired a million unemployed people and had them line the line and anneal straight rail into existence. Probably way more complicated than gauge adjustment, but still.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

This could be the solution to the green line delays!

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

I thought it might be that, though I was surprised to be able to hear it on Bromfield.

[minerva42]

Yup, the 93/16 crossing next to Mystic Ave is gone today as of sometime Friday night. It's a lot of fun watching them work - big loud machines! The last one I saw was the rotary where 93 passes over 60. They had spectators and bleachers.