New York, NY - Anti-Terror Plan For Underwater Subways

New York, NY - The MTA plans to bolster underwater subway tunnels with layers of concrete and dirt to stop any flooding from a bomb blast.

Two MTA committees approved a $17.1 million contract for a Staten Island marine firm to build the anti-terror bulwarks. "It provides additional structural hardening protection ... a barrier between the top of the tunnel and the riverbed," said the vice president of the MTA's Capital Construction Co.

Officials wouldn't provide details of the project for security reasons, but the MTA has 14 underwater subway tunnels, many dug through solid rock. They run under the East River, the Harlem River and the Newtown Creek on the Queens-Brooklyn border.
The MTA committees also approved $80 million worth of work to add 399 surveillance cameras and 425 motion sensors to the system to thwart terror attacks.