Holland Tunnel

With New York, the Holland Tunnel , formerly known under the name of Hudson To rivet Vehicular Tunnel or of Canal Street Tunnel , of both highway Tunnel S is one which crosses the Hudson to connect the island of Manhattan to Jersey City, on the continent. Built between 1920 and 1927, the tunnel was baptized name of the chief engineer responsible for work, Clifford Milburn Holland (1883 - 1924), deceased before the completion of the work. Conceived at one time when the car started to develop, the tunnel was one of the first in the world to be profited from a ventilation, assured by enormous ventilators 24 m in diameter.

Holland Tunnel is double, each gallery sheltering a roadway with 2 ways. The northern gallery measures 2,610 km and that of the south 2,550 km. They are built under the bottom of the river, to 28 m under the sea level with high tide, at the major place of the tunnel.

A toll is installed side of the New Jersey. In 2003, the tariff amounted to 6$ for the cars and 5$ for the motor bikes, to go to Manhattan (the transit is free in the other direction). According to the data of the Port Authority off New York and New Jersey , which exploits the tunnel, the traffic recorded for the year 2006 is of 34.730.000 vehicles.

History

The project to cross Hudson was worked out by a Joint Committee, created in 1906 by the town of New York and the State of the New Jersey. The initial plan envisaged the construction of a bridge, but it was abandoned in 1913. Indeed, its height should have exceeded 60 m, in order not to obstruct the river and maritime traffic. Consequently, the cost of acquisition of the grounds necessary to build the access roads proved to be prohibitory.

The first two projects of tunnels (George Goethals then Jacobs and Davies) recommended the boring of a single gallery, separate in 2 levels of circulation. Finally, the proposal of Clifford Milburn Holland for two galleries gained the votes.

Work began in October 1920. In 1924, just before the junction between the 2 teams of boring of the tunnel does not take place, Holland succumbed during an ablation of amygdalae, at the 41 years age. Its successor, Milton H. Freeman, also died after a few months of work on the project. It is then Ole Singstad which took again the work management and developed its innovating ventilation system.

The construction of the tunnel required that the workmen work under atmosphere with high pressure, in order to prevent the water of the river from entering the boxes. The workers were to cross a series of hopper in order to join their station and to turn over on the ground. Fortunately, no incident of depressurization was fatal. However, during the seven years of construction, about thirty people lost the life in various accidents.

Opened the November 13rd 1927, the tunnel was an immediate success. As of the first day of exploitation, 51.694 vehicles borrowed it, by paying 50 hundreds, toll having to refund the 48 million dollars of cost of construction. In 1931 the tunnel passed under the responsibility of the Port Authority off New York and New Jersey . In 2003, the entire investment exceeded of 378 million dollars the initial setting.

The vehicles with animal haulage were always prohibited inside the tunnel. In 1949, a fire to edge of a transporting truck of the chemicals caused important damage in the southern gallery, and 66 wounded. The repair work rose with 600.000 dollars. The matter transit dangerous was then strictly regulated.

After the Attacks of September 11th, 2001, the tunnel remained closed for one month, except for the vehicles of the emergency services. With his reopening, one adopted new restrictive measures: prohibition with the cars transporting only one person (raised measurement on November 17th, 2003) and with the trucks. In 2005, the access to the semitrailers and the trucks of large tonnage is always prohibited.

In 1996, the film catastrophe Daylight, with Sylvester Stallone, has as a decoration Holland tunnel.

See too

List of the tunnels

Random links: