Subway cars hit bottom on Atlantic City reef

On April 3, 2008, 44 decommissioned stainless steel subway cars were  deployed on the Atlantic City Reef site as part of the Artificial Reef  Program.  The AC reef is located 8.8 nautical miles offshore of the  Absecon Inlet, has a depth range of 50 -90 feet and is four square  miles in size.  Also located on the AC reef are Redbird subway cars,  concrete, reef balls, telecommunication cables, tanks, tires and  various vessels all of which total just under 65,000 cubic yards of  reef material.
 
Three locations were chosen to be the final resting place for these  particular subway cars.  Site one consists of 15 cars, located at DGPS  coordinates 3915.600' 7414.400', in depth range of 75 - 80 feet.  Site  two consists of 14 cars, located at DGPS coordinates 3915.375'  7414.625', in depth range of 75 - 80 feet.  The third and final site  with 15 cars is located at DGPS coordinates 3914.100' 7412.600', in depth range of 90 - 95 feet.  The cars are placed in a  tight circle pattern surrounding these coordinates to better  accommodate divers.
 
A total of 600 decommissioned stainless steel subway cars are to be  deployed eventually, all being received from the New York Metropolitan  Transit Authority (MTA).  Each car is approximately 60 feet in length,  10 feet in width and 11 feet in height.  Prior to deployment each car  is stripped of all plastics, degradable materials and grease to avoid  contamination to the marine ecosystem.  The MTA covers all costs for  the cleaning, transportation and deployment to the artificial reef  sites.
 
The remainders of the cars are scheduled to be deployed at the  Deepwater, Cape May, Garden State South and Shark River Reef sites.