Laying internet in Manhattan is an unmitigated nightmare.
For context, they have been replacing about 1000 meters of water main outside of my apartment for 9 months.
I don't mean just a little bit of work, there has been a crew of 20 guys out there 6 days a week, firing up the jack hammers at 7:30am everyday and using heavy equipment until 4pm. (Not that I'm bitter about getting woken up that way). They're really working hard. It just takes a lot of cycles of digging up the street, moving an old pipe, repaving the street, digging up a different old pipe, repaving the street, etc.
I often think (in those moments when I wish I was sleeping instead of hearing construction) that there has to be a better way. I'm not sure what that is, but the layering of multiple systems really makes running anything under the roads hard. It's almost makes you think they should rip up an entire block and do it all over at once so it is organized.
I've seen that in use plenty in the US. My water mains were replaced a couple years ago like that. I presume it's not applicable to every situation, though. A place like Manhattan, with lots of connections in a short distance, it might not gain you much.
They did that on a small scale to my brother's 40 year old copper natural gas connection in the US. Very fast compared to trenching in a new line. They just pulled a new corrosion proof line in behind the splitter head.
For context, they have been replacing about 1000 meters of water main outside of my apartment for 9 months.
I don't mean just a little bit of work, there has been a crew of 20 guys out there 6 days a week, firing up the jack hammers at 7:30am everyday and using heavy equipment until 4pm. (Not that I'm bitter about getting woken up that way). They're really working hard. It just takes a lot of cycles of digging up the street, moving an old pipe, repaving the street, digging up a different old pipe, repaving the street, etc.
I often think (in those moments when I wish I was sleeping instead of hearing construction) that there has to be a better way. I'm not sure what that is, but the layering of multiple systems really makes running anything under the roads hard. It's almost makes you think they should rip up an entire block and do it all over at once so it is organized.