25 South Riverside Avenue Construction Monitoring Program

Vibration monitoring equipment has been installed at 63 and 64 Van Wyck Street to monitor vibrations during pile driving. The New York State Department of Transportation, in their Highway Design Manual, recommends that construction activities not result in a peak particle velocity over 1.52 in/sec at adjacent structures.  NYSDOT notes that a separation distance from the pile to the structures of 25 feet is sufficient:

Considering the impact pile driver ranks high on the list of
construction activities producing ground vibrations yet yields a
PPV of 1.52 in./sec at a distance of 25 ft., this buffer is a
conservative distance.

The New York City Department of Buildings, in their Technical Policy and Procedural Notice #10/88, has established a peak particle velocity of 0.5 in/sec at adjacent structures:

The maximum permissible peak particle velocity shall be 0.5
in/sec with no distance criteria.

A notification level of 0.5 in/sec has been set for the peak particle velocity. If the measured peak particle velocity exceeds 0.5 in/sec the operator of the pile driver and property owner will receive real time notification. The operator of the pile driver can then reduce the impact force and/or frequency of the blows to reduce the peak particle velocity to a level below 0.5 in/sec. Vibration monitoring reports will be received daily and be made available below:

How to Interpret Vibration Monitoring Reports (See text in red)