Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Video: Giant Tunnel Boring Machine Completes 7 Extension
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 16, 2010
Modified Jul 16, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gothamist
View all 3
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 16, 2010
Modified Jul 16, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The machines have breached the dock and Zion is about to to be overrun with thousands of sentinels! Okay, let's start this Friday right with video and photos of our beloved Tunnel Boring Machine [TBM] drilling through the last bit of bedrock to complete the 7 line extension. "Just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, the ground shook and the tunnel boring machine rumbled louder and louder as rocks fell to the floor of the chamber under the Port Authority bus terminal," the AP reports. "After a few minutes, dust filled the air and the rest of the rocks fell as the machine's blades spun in a circular motion, leaving a 22-foot-wide round hole."
Don't worry, Hizzoner finally stops droning on at the 54 second mark and the audio switches to the hole. We really want to high-five the sandhog who brought the air horn.
This is the second of two machines that have been drilling for the past year to extend the 7 line from 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue to 34th Street and 11th Avenue, near the site of the 26-acre Hudson Yards development. Fun fact: Both TBMs were named Emma and Georgina, after Bloomberg's daughters! Emma and Georgina weigh 485 tons.
"We talk about these big projects. This is one that we're actually doing, and we're doing it on-time, on budget," Bloomberg told reporters yesterday. The extension has cost taxpayers $2.1 billion, and was originally to have included a subway station at 41st Street and 10th Avenue, but that was put on hold because of lack of funds. And get excited, because the 11th Avenue station is expected to open in... 2013! (For all our detailed TBM coverage click here.)
Tagged
hudson yards
tbm
tunnel boring machine
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .