Cornell NYC Tech And Tishman Construction Answer Questions On Recent Undocumented Roosevelt Island Water Main Break - Will Use Metal Detectors And Ground Penetrating Radar To Prevent Future Occurrences

Reported January 20:

... that an undocumented water main pipe was cut on the northwest side of the former Goldwater Hospital site

Roosevelt Island Water Main Break On Site of Cornell NYC Tech Construciton

during construction drilling for the new Cornell NYC Tech campus....

and:

... Unknown Roosevelt Island cables, pipes and other underground material beneath Goldwater Hospital may be a continual problem during Cornell NYC Tech construction....

During meeting last night of the Cornell Roosevelt Island Construction & Community Task Force, I asked Cornell NYC Tech Director of Capital Planning Andrew Winters and his contractors what is being done to insure similar occurrences do not happen again.

Mr. Winters asked Ted Musho, Vice President of Tishman Construction, who is overseeing the site work to explain what happened and measures being taken to prevent it from occurring again. According to Mr. Musho:

... metal detectors and ground penetrating radar...

will be used to prevent future similar occurrences but:

...the reality of it is that you got 70 years worth of utility work that is laid on top of the site that is not well documented. Its going to take alot of effort on our part when we go through there to do this...

Mr. Winters added:

... we've done about 12 or so borings around the site without incident ...    its an unfortunate occurrence. We're going to try and avoid it and do whatever we can in the future by being more aggressive...

Mr. Winters also explained that part of the construction project is to:

...upgrade every utility that's down there. Electric, water, sewer, storm, everything. Part of the upgrading is moving it into the right of way so that it is fully mapped and full accessible for the future.

Here's video of the full discussion.



Will have more video of last night's Cornell Roosevelt Island Construction & Community Task Force meeting including information on the demolition of Goldwater Hospital later.

Stay tuned.

Also, don't forget the February 5 Town Hall Meeting on the Cornell Campus construction. You're invited to attend, learn about the project and ask questions.

UPDATE 1/30 - Here's video of everything you want to know about beginning of the Cornell NYC Tech Roosevelt Island construction process - and plans for open space landscaping too.