Sampa Diary: “Son of the Great Smoking Hole”

In the wake of the Big Armadillo: The Line 3 (Green) extension, São Paulo subway, has reportedly been less accident-prone, I read.

Rua dos Pinheiros deve permanecer fechada até terça-feira (“Pinheiros St. due to remain closed until next Tuesday”): The Folha de S. Paulo’s reportagem local, or local newsdesk, reports.

This a story my wife and I take personally because we live in, and also own an office suite, in the general neighborhood of Pinheiros.

The scuttlebutt among the local real-estate speculation set has been that the Line 4 subway extension will do marvelous things for our property value. (The governor lives not that far from us, I hear, as does the federal minister of the treasury. Our street is a bit more Third World, but we like it all right. Our funky but commodious house-studio is on solid bedrock and elevated a good 10m-12m above the flood plain, for example.)

But the Line 4 Big Dig at the Pinheiros station — that stretch of the line runs underground through what until the 1970s was the bed of a lazy, meandering river– collapsed into a scandalous smoking hole last January.

The local free papers — but not the metro dailies — were soon running reader-submitted photos of previous excavation damage — they were reportedly dynamiting instead of using the massive French-built excavator known locally as “The Big Armadillo” — to houses along the route.

See also

• “São Paulo Smoking Hole Echoes With The Sound of Silence!”
• “In Hell, The Engineers Are Brazilian and the Musicians Are German”
• São Paulo Smoking Hole Update: Of Goats and Armadillos

Now, more miniature indications of the same.

A rua dos Pinheiros, na zona oeste de São Paulo, deve permanecer fechada ao menos até terça-feira (14), de acordo com o Consórcio Via Amarela, responsável pelas obras da linha 4-amarela do metrô. Na tarde de ontem, um buraco de dois metros de diâmetro abriu na rua.

Pinheiros St. in the Western Zone of São Paulo is due to remain closed until at least August 14, according to the Yellow Line Consortium, responsible for the work on the Line 4 (Yellow) of the São Paulo subway system. Yesterday afternoon, a hole two meters in diameter opened up in the street.

De acordo com o consórcio, o buraco na via foi fechado por volta das 7h30, mas técnicos ainda trabalham na estabilização do solo.

According to the Consortium, the hole in the roadway was closed around 7:30 am, but technicians are still working to stabilize the subsoil.

You’re telling me you just threw a quick patch on that sucker? What are you, Microsoft?

A rua permanece fechada entre a rua Mourato Coelho e a rua Mateus Grou. Os problemas no trecho começaram ontem, quando o solo da rua afundou após a passagem subterrânea do chamado tatuzão, que abria caminho para a futura estação Oscar Freire.

The street remains closed between Mourato Coelho and Mateus Grou. The problems there began yesterday, when the soil under the street gave after an underground pass by the so-called “Big Armadillo” excavator, which is opening the way to the future Oscar Freire station.

Para reparar a via, o Metrô teve que abrir um buraco de 1,5 m de profundidade e 2 m de diâmetro e preenchê-lo com concreto.

To repair the roadbed, the Metro Authority had to open up a hole 1.5m deep and 2m in diameter and fill it in with concrete.

O Consórcio Via Amarela e o Metrô afirmaram que o afundamento da rua dos Pinheiros não pode ser considerado uma falha e que não há risco de o buraco aumentar ou de que haja desabamentos no local. O consórcio declarou, porém, que outros problemas como esse poderão ocorrer, uma vez que o solo da região é considerado arenoso.

The Yellow Line Consortium and the Metro Authority stated that the sinkhole on Pinheiros St. cannot be considered a flaw and that there is no risk of the hole increasing in size or of building collapses in the area. The consortium said, however, that other problems of this kind might occur, given that the soil in the region is considered sandy.

Embora negue que haja risco para a segurança, o consórcio manterá o tatuzão parado por 48 horas, para restabelecer a estabilidade na região.

Thought it denies there is an safety hazard, the Consortium will take the “Big Armadillo” out of service for 48 hours in order to reestablish stability in the region.

“Reestablish stability.” A fine semi-tautology, that.

Paulista

Paulista Avenue (the “Brazilian Wall Street”)

O bloqueio realizado devido a obras na pista sentido Consolação da avenida Paulista, em São Paulo, foi ampliado nesta quarta-feira. Ele agora se estende da praça Osvaldo Cruz à rua Carlos Sampaio. O trânsito deve sofrer com a medida, principalmente porque ela se soma à interdição provocada pelas obras da linha 4-amarela do metrô na rua dos Pinheiros (zona oeste de São Paulo).

The blocking of traffic due to work on the Consolação Station-bound tracks on the Avenida Paulista was broadened on Wednesday. It now extends from Osvaldo Cruz Square to Carlos Sampaio St. Traffic is expected to suffer with the measure, mainly because it comes on top of the traffic interdictions caused by the Line 4 excavations on Pinheiros St.

Os motoristas que passarem pela avenida com direção ao centro são orientados a seguir pela 13 de Maio, Cincinato Braga, São Carlos do Pinhal e Antonio Carlos. Quem chega ao centro da Vila Mariana pode seguir pela rua Vergueiro e avenida Liberdade. Quem segue para os Jardins pode ir pra rua Joaquim Távora e avenidas Pedro Alvares Cabral e Brasil.

Drivers heading downtown along the avenue are directed to take 13 Maio, Cincinato Braga, São Carlos do Pinhal and Antonio Carlos. If you are heading to the Vila Mariana, take Vegueiro St. and Av. Liberdade. Heading to Jardins? Take Joaquim Távora or Cabral or Brasil Avenues.

We, thank goodness, do not drive, although we have been thinking of getting a car. We either bus it, schlep up the ladeira to the Vila Maddà subway stop or, in a pinch, cab it with Carlão, the friendly neighborhood posto owner-operator.

São Paulo traffic is totally insane. And I do mean murderous. As in “pedestrian right of way? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha …”