One of the coolest mornings I have ever had...

As a representative of the heavy and highway contracting community, I am sometimes able to see extremely unique things that the rest of the world is unable to see.

Last week, I travelled to New York City early in the morning and experienced something that simply took my breath away and made me feel like a small child as I stared at everything with a open mouth and eyes of awe.

One of my organization's largest members is the main contractor on the construction of the new water tunnel for New York City.

To read more about the project, visit this website! http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/3rdtunnel.html

Upon arriving at the site, I was given a quick explanation of the sheer scope of the project. The contractor is to dig approximately 15 more miles of tunnel and dig 9 more 600 foot shafts tying the tunnel to the surface of the city in points in Chinatown and Broadway and more! It was more than I could comprehend.

After the lesson, we were fitted with raingear and with knee length rubber boots. The safety expert then scared the living piss out of us and we were ready to enter the tunnel..always aware of falling debris and with full knowledge of what to do if the lights went out or there was a fire. We were as prepared as we were ever going to be.

I entered an open elevator with four others and we travelled for four minutes deep into the heart of the belly of New York City -- 600 feet under the ground. Once in the ground, I saw the tunnel. To my naked eye, I would say that the tunnel was about 20 feet high and measured about 20 from side to side. It was truly a impressive sight.

A train runs along the bottom of the tunnels as they are used to transport men from one end to the other and to bring the debris to the center of the project. The debris is then dropped into a crusher and sent up to the surface along a conveyour belt that runs alongside the elevator. It is then dropped into trucks that remove it off the island. Amazing.

I was able to walk down the tunnel and feel along the sides of the wall and I was impressed at how this machine that is bigger than most buildings is able to smoothly cut into 20 feet of granite. It was TRULY beyond my comprehension and amazing. I snuck a piece of the granite and brought it home. That was from 600 feet below Madison Square Garden! How many people can say that they have that sitting on their stoves!?!?!?

We were then treated to a dynamite blast. They were beginning another portion of the project -- another arm of the tunnel. This tunnel was to run parallel to the current tunnel being dug and it would serve the other side of the island. The blast was approximately 600 feet down. With earplugs in our ears and about 800 feet and a bend in between us and the dynamite, it was detonated. The entire hole vibrated and was extremely loud. I felt the hair on my hands vibrate and my teeth chattered. It was amazing! I felt a wave of air come over me and I couldn't imagine at how cool it would feel if I was standing near the end of the tunnel.

After about an hour of a tour and examining the big equipment, we finally made our way back up to the top completely in awe of what we had just experienced. This was the largest engineered project in the world and I got to step foot in it.

Awesome