Holland Tunnel
The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects Hudson Square and Lower Manhattan in New York City in the east to Jersey City, New Jersey in the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and carries Interstate 78. The New Jersey side of the tunnel is the eastern terminus of New Jersey Route 139. The Holland Tunnel is one of three vehicular crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey; the two others are the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge.
Overview
Holland Vehicular Tunnel
Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel
Canal Street Tunnel
November 13, 1927
89,792 (2016)[2]
8,558 feet (2,608.5 m) (westbound)
8,371 feet (2,551.5 m) (eastbound)
4
12.6 feet (3.84 m)
20 feet (6.1 m)
93 feet (28.3 m) below MHW
Jersey City, New Jersey and Lower Manhattan, New York City
1920
06101.007028
November 4, 1993[3]
November 4, 1993
November 4, 1993
Plans for a fixed vehicular crossing over the Hudson River were first devised in 1906. However, disagreements prolonged the planning process until 1919, when it was decided to build a tunnel under the river. Construction of the Holland Tunnel started in 1920, and it opened in 1927. At the time of its opening, it was the longest continuous underwater tunnel for vehicular traffic in the world.
The Holland Tunnel was the world's first mechanically ventilated tunnel. Its ventilation system was designed by Ole Singstad, who oversaw the tunnel's completion. Original names considered for the tunnel included Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel and Canal Street Tunnel, but it was ultimately named the Holland Tunnel in memory of Clifford Milburn Holland, its initial chief engineer who died suddenly in 1924 prior to the tunnel's opening.
History[edit]
Need for vehicular tunnel[edit]
Until the first decade of the 20th century, passage across the lower Hudson River was possible only by ferry.[51]: 10 [3]: 9 The first tunnels to be bored below the Hudson River were for railroad use. The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, now PATH, constructed two pairs of tubes to link the major railroad terminals in New Jersey with Manhattan Island: the Uptown Hudson Tubes, which opened in 1908,[51]: 21 [52] and the Downtown Hudson Tubes, which opened in 1909.[53] The Pennsylvania Railroad's twin North River Tunnels, constructed to serve the new Pennsylvania Station, opened in 1910.[51]: 37 [54] The construction of these three tunnels proved that tunneling under the Hudson River was feasible.[51]: 10 However, although train traffic was allowed to use the tunnel crossings, automotive traffic still had to be transported via ferry.[3]: 9
At the same time, freight traffic in the Port of New York and New Jersey was mostly carried on boats, but traffic had grown to such a point that the boats were at full capacity, and some freight started going to other ports in the United States. To alleviate this, officials proposed building a freight railroad tunnel, but this was blocked by the organized syndicates that held influence over much of the port's freight operations.[43]: 9–10 The public learned of the excessive traffic loads on existing boat routes, as well as the limited capacity of the H&M and North River Tunnels, when the surface of the Hudson River froze in winter 1917, and again when Pennsylvania Railroad workers went on strike in winter 1918.[43]: 11–13 [3]: 9 One engineer suggested that three freight railroad tunnels would be cheaper to construct than one bridge.[55]