Indestructible, Herculean Rock Impedes Construction on Roosevelt Island

A neighbor had been complaining about the unusually loud pounding sound directly outside his window coming from the new Related/Hudson Riverwalk Condo construction site. I had originally thought that the description of the noise as being unbearable and horrendous was due to not being accustomed to living so close to a new construction site. Apparently there is more to this because I am told that there is a very large boulder on the construction site that has proven to be almost indestructible to the construction crew. This Herculean piece of Roosevelt Island rock has resisted destruction by being broken up into little pieces by heavy construction equipment as well as an injection designed to shatter the rock, all for the benefit of future Roosevelt Island condo owners.

I don't know if this is the injection method being used here on Roosevelt Island but found this article fascinating for the future of the construction industry. The article in the Steamboat Pilot describes:

a breakthrough technique that
could dramatically change the way engineers and large contractors break up
rock in major construction projects. Young's controlled foam injection method
even could make it less costly to dig single-family home foundations on lots
with large, buried boulders

The technique uses:

compressed air trapped in a viscous foam that has the power to break up solid
rock far more efficiently and safely than dynamite can. The ingredients in the
foam include guar gum, which makes pudding thick, and a benign sodium
compound that allows toothpaste to get foamy when it mixes with water in your
mouth.

And

...a machine that drills holes in
rock and then injects pressurized foam into the hole. Young's device seals the
hole, so that the expanding air shatters the rock without sending dangerous
shards flying over large areas, or creating the toxic fumes that dynamite
creates in closed areas such as tunnels.

But the rock resists.