Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
Big Dig Productions creates compelling stories that build public awareness, which benefits the development of civic infrastructure megaprojects.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
LATEST PUBLICATION
Second Avenue Subway: Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built
“Three subway stops have never been more important to a nation.”
Second Avenue Subway: Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built tells an entertaining and enlightening story about the multi-faceted challenges faced by critical infrastructure projects–challenges involving politics, engineering, community relations, technology, and even unexpected geology. And it tells how this project–almost miraculously, after nearly a hundred years of planning–was finally completed through the grit and determination of everyone involved, from the union workers toiling in subterranean muck, to project engineers, and all the way up to the governor of New York.
Dan McNichol is the best-selling author of the book The Big Dig. Co-author Bill Goodrich was the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) senior executive in charge of building Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway. And Patrick Cashin, an award-winning photographer, worked with the MTA for more than twenty years.
Book specifications:
First edition available in August, 2025
$65 per book
Hard cover
Non-fiction
Trim size: 10x10"
Page count: 350 pages
Image count: 256
(mostly unpublished)Publisher: Big Dig Productions, Inc.
Second Avenue Subway Book Sneak-Peak
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![TBM Launch Countdown—May 11, 2010]()
TBM Launch Countdown—May 11, 2010
Beneath 92nd Street, Sandhogs ready the 450-foot-long, 500-ton tunnel boring machine (TBM) just days before its official launch.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![The Best “Hogs”—January 21, 2011]()
The Best “Hogs”—January 21, 2011
A crew of Sandhogs relaxes alongside the tunnel boring machine (TBM).
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Muck Train Tracks—January 21, 2011]()
Muck Train Tracks—January 21, 2011
Looking out at the Launch Box from inside the west bore. Two tradespeople straddle opposite sides of temporary railroad tracks set up to haul muck from mining operations taking place farther downtown, as much as a mile away. An air duct providing fresh air into the west bore hangs at the top of the twenty-two-foot-diameter tunnel.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Twin Tunnels—April 7, 2011]()
Twin Tunnels—April 7, 2011
Inside the Launch Box looking towards Downtown.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Breakthrough—September 22, 2011]()
Breakthrough—September 22, 2011
At the 63rd Street station, a Sandhog climbs up to the cutter head of the giant tunnel boring machine moments after the Second avenue Subway project’s mining work was done.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Sandhog Hopper Hustle—July 11, 2013]()
Sandhog Hopper Hustle—July 11, 2013
Union workers known as “Sandhogs” from Local 147 hustle a hopper of concrete coming down from Second Avenue.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Massive Mezzanine—January 11, 2014]()
Massive Mezzanine—January 11, 2014
Bay Crane’s rubber-tired crane works inside the mezzanine of the future 86th Street station, assisting workers (top left) who are erecting concrete forms.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Upper East Side’s Hell’s Kitchen—November 2, 2016]()
Upper East Side’s Hell’s Kitchen—November 2, 2016
The heat in the kitchen was building with only seven weeks to go till opening day.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Life Imitates Art—November 2, 2016]()
Life Imitates Art—November 2, 2016
Vik Muniz’s artwork was first made visible to a tradesman (on the right, in a yellow shirt) who was at work installing the Seventy-Second Street station’s finishes when the piece was revealed.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
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![Yorkville’s Sneak Peak—December 30, 2016]()
Yorkville’s Sneak Peak—December 30, 2016
Patrick Cashin’s award-winning photo captures Yorkville residents exercising their invitations to a sneak peak of the new Eighty-Sixth Street station.
Photo: Patrick J. Cashin | MTA
Dan McNichol Books
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Second Avenue Subway
Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built
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The Big Dig
The Largest Urban Construction Project in the History of the Modern World
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The Big Dig at Night
A follow-up to the Big Dig book, with a gallery of night-time photos
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The Roads that Built America
The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System
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The Big Dig
Trivia Quiz Book
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Paving the Way
Asphalt in America
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A Legacy of Leadership
Governors And American History
Chapter 4 Governing the 1950s | Connecting the United States: Governors and the Building of the Interstate System
Events
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Second Avenue Subway: Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built
The book’s official launch featured authors Dan McNichol and Bill Goodrich with photographer Patrick J. Cashin in a panel presentation that featured the story in the book and fielded questions from the audience.
New York Transit Museum
Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201October 23, 2024 | 6:00 - 8:30 PM
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Second Avenue Subway: Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built
Authors Dan McNichol and Bill Goodrich and photographer Patrick J. Cashin shared the tortuous history of New York City’s most debated, promised, and—until recently—undelivered subway line.
The Rockefeller University | Carson Family Auditorium
1230 York Avenue at East 66th Street
New York, NY 10065MAY 24, 2024 | 5:30 – 6:30 PM
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The Art of Mobility
A fundraiser gala organized by Tri-State Transportation Campaign where the Second Avenue Subway book and Patrick Cashin’s photos were featured.
White Space Art Gallery
530 W 25th Street
New York, NYMay 9, 2025 | 6:00 - 9:00 PM
