New York City urban infrastructure

Absolutely facinating article about the mechanics of how the city works. I work with this sort of stuff every day, but most people never give it a thought...and maybe they should. Residents should take a keen interest in infrastructure if they're living in a place running on essentially 70-100 year old technology and designs. That this ancient stuff has managed to (mostly) hold up for so long is an amazing statement about the quality and fundamental soundness of the original work.

Gotham Gazette

...as I understand it the tunnels essentially can't be maintained, can't be checked, because we're so dependent on them. Nobody wants to shut off the water moving through the tunnels because we're reliant on them, but also in part because they're afraid the tunnels may implode when that pressure is removed...

..."The real question is: are we being as ambitious as people were 100 years ago when they set up these very elaborate systems. I don't know that we're being as visionary about infrastructure as perhaps we should be."...