Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is one of the most important parts of the city. It is located around the island of Manhattan, New York. The importance of this part of the city can be inferred by the fact that it provides very much-needed accessibility to the shoreline. The connection with a shoreline offers various services and activities.
The purpose of the East Midtown Greenway project was to bridge the gap between the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway and the East River and to provide easy access to the waterfront and open space resources.
Rite Geosystems, our subsidiary in the USA, was entrusted with the important task of monitoring the state of the existing retaining wall in the vicinity of construction works. We provided our expert services that included both geotechnical instrumentations and monitoring services.
Overview of the East Midtown Greenway Project
The E 53rd to E 61st St phase of the project entails the construction of the northern section of the esplanade that connects to Andrew Haswell Green Park at 62nd Street and will include a pedestrian bridge to East 54th Street.
The constructed pier structure will be supported by the piles that are drilled and rock-socketed into the bedrock of the East River. On the topside, a bike path will be constructed and a walkway path will be run adjacent to the bike path. It will feature various seating and railing options for pedestrians to enjoy the space.
The constructed esplanade will have irrigation systems, water fountains and stations, and light fixtures. The pedestrian bridge at E 54th Street will be constructed with concrete and steel and will span from Sutton Place Park, over the FDR, onto a pile-supported structure at the esplanade.
Need for Monitoring East Midtown Greenway Project
The Rite Geosystem Inc. task entailed risk assessment monitoring of the existing retaining wall during the construction works. The retaining wall sustained various cracks which were monitored by us. Apart from this, we also installed tilt meters for any angular distortion of the retaining wall that may be caused by nearby construction activities.
The safety of the existing retaining wall was quite critical and required monitoring expertise to avoid any mishap. Our team of professionals lived up to the reputation that we have created. The data from crack meters and tilt meters was logged by advanced dataloggers with a wireless data transfer facility (to a central server). This enabled the stakeholders to have the data in near real-time, with instant alarms and alerts, for the smooth progress of the project.
Monitoring Solutions Offered for the East Midtown Greenway Project
Monitoring solution which typically included the supply of geotechnical instruments like crack meters and tilt meters along with advanced dataloggers.
Crack Meters
As the name suggests, Crack Meters are used to monitor and assess existing cracks. Their main purpose is to monitor movement and measure the width of a surface crack. In the East Midtown Greenway Project, Crack Meters were used in the monitoring of the existing cracks along the retaining wall along with FDR and FDR columns.
Tiltmeters
Tiltmeters are aimed at monitoring tilts and angular distortions like deflection, vertical rotation, deformation of the diaphragm, and retaining wall. In the East Midtown Greenway Project, Tiltmeters were used to monitor the distortion in retaining walls along the Andrew Haswell Park and FDR columns.
Data Loggers
Data loggers provide storage of data with date, time, voltage, etc. from different kinds of sensors. Here, in the East Midway Project, digital data loggers were used. These data loggers were equipped with a GPS/GPRS modem to transfer the data to the central server.
We are proud of the fact that we were able to complete our task with great aplomb. Our contribution and engineering services will make the construction phase much smoother and hassle-free. Our world-class geotechnical instruments and innovative monitoring services are known for their accuracy and reliability and we achieved yet another success with this project.