The Holland Tunnel is a vehicle tunnel under the Hudson River. It connects Manhattan in New York City, New York, to the east, and Jersey City, New Jersey, to the west. An integral channel in the New York metropolitan area, the Dutch Tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The whole tunnel carries Interstate 78; New Jersey side also carries New Jersey Route 139.
Plans for vehicles to keep crossing the Hudson River were first made in 1906. However, disputes extend the planning process until 1919, when it was decided to build tunnels under the river. Construction of the Dutch Tunnel began in 1920, and opened in 1927. At the time of its opening, the Dutch Tunnel was the longest continuous underwater tunnel in the world. The Dutch tunnel is one of three vehicle crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey; the other is the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge.
The Dutch tunnel was originally known as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel or The Canal Street Tunnel . It was renamed the memory of Clifford Milburn Holland, chief engineer, after his sudden death in 1924, before the tunnel opened. The Dutch tunnel is the world's first mechanized ventilated tunnel; a ventilation system designed by Ole Singstad, who oversees the completion of the tunnel construction.
Video Holland Tunnel
Description
Tubes
The Dutch Tunnel is operated by the New York Port Authority and New Jersey. It consists of a pair of tubes with 29.5-feet (9.0 m) in diameter, running approximately parallel to each other and 15 feet (4,6 m) apart under the Hudson River. The exterior of each tube consists of a series of cast iron rings, consisting of 14 pieces of curved steel, each length of 6 feet (1.8 m). The steel ring, in turn, is covered by a 19-inch (48 cm) thick layer of concrete. Each tube provides a 20 feet (6.1 m) walk with two lanes and a vertical distance of 12 feet (3,81 m). The northern tube is 8.558 feet (2.608 m) between the portal, while the south tube is slightly shorter, at 8,371 feet (2,551 m). If each direct pathway of the tube is inserted, the northern tube is 9,210 feet (2.807 m) long and the southern tube is 9,275 feet (2,827 m) long.
The lower part of the two tubes' water is 5,410 feet (1,650 m) long and is located in the mud under the river. The lowest point of the road is about 93 feet (28.3 m) below average water level, and the lowest point of the tunnel ceiling is about 72 feet (21.9 m) below the average water level. The tube drops to a maximum level of 4.06% and rises at a rate of up to 3.8%. The tube stretches an additional 1,000 feet (300 m) from the east coast to the New York portal, and 500 feet (150 m) from the west coast line to the New Jersey portal. These tunnel sections are more rectangular, since they are built as open pieces that are then covered. The walls and ceilings are equipped with glazed ceramic tiles, which were originally designed to minimize staining. Most of the tiles are white, but there's a two-tiered yellow-orange tile tape at the bottom of each tube wall, as well as a tiled blue tile as high as two tiles above.
The northern tube, which carries traffic westward, comes from Broome Street in Manhattan between Varick and Hudson Streets; continue to 14th Street east of Marin Boulevard in Jersey City. The southern tube, for eastward traffic, comes from 12th Street east of Marin Boulevard, and a surface at Holland Tunnel Rotary in Manhattan. The entry and exit ramps to and from each portal are covered with granite and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Although the underside of the two parallel tubes, the tube portals on both sides lie two blocks away from each other, to reduce congestion on each side. The Holland Tunnel pipeline initially contained road surfaces made of Belgian blocks and concrete, but this was replaced with asphalt in 1955. Each tube contains a catwalk on the left side (inside), raised 4 feet (1.2 m) above the highway. Five cross-exit emergency connect catwalks in two tubes. When the Dutch Tunnel was opened, the catwalk was equipped with police booths and telephone systems, housed at intervals of 250 feet (76 m).
The number of traffic through the Dutch Tunnel remained stable despite strict restrictions on eastward traffic in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks including a commercial traffic ban that entered New York City after the August 2004 threat. Apart from the sharp decline immediately after the September 11 attacks, the number of vehicles using the Dutch Tunnels in both directions each day continues to decline from a peak of 103,020 vehicles daily in 1999 to 89,792 vehicles by 2016. By 2017, the eastern direction of the Dutch Tunnel is used by 14,871,543 vehicles each year.
The Dutch tunnel was designed by Clifford Milburn Holland, the chief engineer on the project, who died in October 1924, before it was completed. He was replaced by Milton Harvey Freeman, who died less than a year after the Netherlands. After that, Ole Singstad oversees the completion of the tunnel. The tunnel was designated as the National Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1982 and the National Historic Landmark in 1993.
Ventilation
The Dutch tunnel is the first mechanically ventilated underwater tunnel in the world. It contains a ventilation system that runs transversely, or perpendicularly, to a tube. Each side of the Hudson River has two ventilation shaft buildings: one on land, and one on a river about 1,000 feet (300 m) from each coastline. All ventilation buildings have concrete facades with steel frames and reinforced concrete. The shaft in the river rises 107 feet (33 m) above the average water level; Its supporting pillar is down 45 feet (14 m), where 40 feet (12 m) under water and 5 feet (1.5 m) is embedded in the river bed. River shafts multiply as an emergency exit by sending a dock that connects every ventilation hole to the shoreline. The New York Land Ventilation Tower, a five-story building with trapezoidal trails, is 122 feet (37 m) tall. The New Jersey Land Ventilation Tower is a four-storey building, 84 feet (26 m) with a rectangular perimeter.
The four venting towers contain a combined 84 fans. Of these, 42 are fans of intakes with varying capacities from 84,000 to 218,000 cubic feet (2,400 to 6,200m 3 ) per minute, while 42 are fans of the exhaust, which can spray between 87,500 and 227,000 cubic feet (2,480 and 6,430 m 3 ) per minute. At the time of tunnel construction, two thirds of the 84 fans were used on a regular basis, while other fans were provided for emergency use. The fans breathe fresh air into the canal, which in turn provides air intake to the tunnel through openings at the edge of the tube. The ceiling contains a gap, which is used to get rid of air. Fans can change all the air inside the tunnel every 90 seconds. Forced ventilation systems are essential because the toxic carbon monoxide component of the car exhaust, which is a much greater percentage of exhaust gas before catalytic converter becomes prevalent.
Boyle Plaza
The approach to the Dutch Tunnel in Jersey City begins where the lower levels of NJ 139 and the Newark Bay Extension merge. On May 6, 1936, part of what became NJ 139/I-78 between Jersey Avenue and Marin Boulevard was named to commemorate John F. Boyle, a former commissioner of interstate tunnels. Despite being part of the Interstate Highway System, I-78 and NJ 139 run simultaneously along 12th and 14th Street to reach the Holland Tunnel. Traffic westward uses 14th Street while traffic heads east using 12th Street. The square was restored and laid out by the Jersey City government in 1982.
There is a nine-lane highway for traffic east just east of 12th Street, just west of the tunnel portal. The original toll plaza has eight lanes; it was renovated in 1953-1954, and the nine lane toll road is currently built in 1988.
Holland Tunnel Rotary
Soon after the construction of the tunnel, the goods depot, St. John's Park Terminal, was demolished, and a new circular road was made in a city block bordered by Laight, Varick, Beach, and Hudson Streets for traffic coming out of the eastern flank of Manhattan. The original structure has four exits, but the plaza was renovated in the early 2000s with landscaping by Studio V Architecture and Ives Architecture Studio. The fifth exit door was added in 2004.
Freeman Plaza
Originally used as a toll plazas for New Jersey-bound traffic, a small triangular patch of land at the mouth of the entrance of the western tube is referred to as Freeman Plaza or Freeman Square . The Plaza is named after Milton Freeman, an engineer who took over the Dutch Tunnel project after Clifford Milburn Holland's death. The Freeman Plaza received its name just before the tunnel opened in 1927. The plaza toll was eliminated around 1971 when the Port Authority stopped collecting tolls for New Jersey riders, and the square was then fenced off by the Port Authority. Small maintenance buildings for toll collectors were moved around 1982 or 1983. A hill in the Netherlands is located outside the entrance of the western tube at Freeman Plaza.
A business improvement district for the area, Hudson Square Connection, was established in 2009 with the aim of reusing the square for pedestrian use. Hudson Square Connection and Port Authority collaborated to create a five-year master plan, $ 27 million for Freeman Plaza. In 2013, Freeman Plaza West is open to the public. Bounded by Hudson, Broome, and Watts Streets, it features umbrellas, bistro tables and chairs, and tree planting. In 2014, Freeman Plaza East and Freeman Plaza North opened in Varick and Broome Streets, respectively. The plaza contains lounge chairs, bistro tables, and umbrellas. In 2016, Hudson Square Connection adds solar charging stations to both plazas, and introduces the summer music series, called live @ lunch. Statues by artist Isamu Noguchi are also installed in the square.
Maps Holland Tunnel
History
Context
Until the first decade of the 20th century, passage across the lower Hudson River was possible only by ferry. The first tunnel that got bored under the Hudson River was for the use of railroads. The Hudson & amp; Manhattan Railroad (now PATH) built two pairs of tubes to connect the main railway terminal in New Jersey to Manhattan Island: Uptown Hudson Tubes, opened in 1908, and Downtown Hudson Tubes, which opened in 1909. The Pennsylvania Railroad's twin North River Tunnels, built to serve the new Pennsylvania Station, opened in 1910. The construction of these three tunnels proves that the tunnel under the Hudson River is feasible. However, although rail traffic is permitted to use tunnel crossings, automotive traffic still has to be transported via ferry.
At the same time, freight traffic in the Ports of New York and New Jersey is mostly done by ship, but traffic has grown in such a way that the ships have full capacity, and some goods are being shipped to other ports in the United States.. To counter this, officials propose the construction of freight trains tunnels, but these are blocked by organized syndicates that have an influence over many port transport operations. Communities know excessive traffic loads on existing ship routes, as well as limited capacity of H & amp; M and North River Tunnels, when the Hudson River surface froze in the winter of 1917, and again when the Pennsylvania Railroad workers broke down in the winter of 1918. An engineer stated that three railroad tunnels would be cheaper to build than a bridge.
Planning
Initial package
In 1906, the New York and New Jersey Interstate Bridge Commission, a three-group consortium, was formed to consider the need to cross the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey. That year, three trains asked the Commission to consider building a railway bridge over the river. In 1908, the commission considered building three bridges across the Hudson River at 57th, 110th, and 179th Streets in Manhattan. The reason is that the bridge will be cheaper than the tunnel. These three locations are considered the only suitable locations for hanging bridges; other sites are denied on the basis of aesthetics, geography, or traffic flows. John Vipond Davies, one of the partners for consulting firms Jacobs and Davies (who have built Uptown Hudson Tubes), wants to build a tunnel vehicle between Canal Street, Manhattan, and 13th Street, Jersey City. This proposal will compete with a six-lane suspension bridge on 57th Street. Some plans are provided for the construction of bridges and tunnels. The ferry can not accommodate all 19,600 vehicles per day, in 1913, traveling between New York and New Jersey. Truckers are invited to a Bridge Commission meeting, where they will hear about the details of both the 57th Street Bridge and the Canal Street Tunnel plan.
The US Department of War voiced concern about the road bridge plan 57: the range will need to be at least 200 feet (61 m) above average water level to avoid disruption of delivery. By comparison, the tunnel will be 95 feet (29 m) below the average water level. The Interstate Bridge Commission, which was renamed the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission in April 1913, published a report in the same month, stating that the Canal Street tunnel would cost $ 11 million while the 57th Street bridge would cost $ 42 million. In October 1913, Jacobs and Davies claimed that a pair of tunnels, with each tube carrying traffic in one direction, would cost just $ 11 million, while a bridge might cost more than $ 50 million. In addition, low elevation and strong foundation in Lower Manhattan are more conducive to tunnels than bridges. At the end of the year, consultant engineers for the 57th Street Bridge and Canal Street Tunnel had submitted their plans to the Bridge and Tunnel Commission. New York City traders especially advocate tunnel plans, while New Jersey and New York car drivers mostly support the bridge plans. Meanwhile, the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission indicated that they liked the Canal Street tunnel plan. On the other hand, the 57th Street bridge plan is largely forgotten.
The New Jersey Public Service Commission published a report in April 1917, stating that the construction of the Hudson River tunnel tunnel from Lower Manhattan to Jersey City was feasible. In June, following this report, New Jersey Governor Walter Evans Edge held the Hudson River Bridge and the New Jersey Tunnel Commission, which will work with the New York Bridge and Tunnel Commission to build new tunnels. In March 1918, a report was sent to the State Legislature of New York, advocating tunnel development as soon as possible. That year, six million dollars in funding for the Hudson River Tunnel was proposed in two bills presented to the subcommittee of the Senate and the United States House of Representatives. The bill was rejected by the Interstate Commerce Committee before it can be presented to the full Senate.
Approved package
The original plan for the Hudson River tunnel was for a two-lane twin tube, with each tube carrying traffic in one direction. A request for a proposal for a tunnel was announced in 1918, and eleven requests were considered. One of these proposals, written by engineer George Goethals, is for bi-level tubes. A modification of Jacobs and Davies' plans of 1913, the Goethals proposal determined that each level would carry three lanes of traffic, and traffic at each level would travel in different directions. Goethals stated that the plan would cost $ 12 million and could be completed within three years. Furthermore, John F. O'Rourke offered to build the tunnel for $ 11.5 million. Goethals cites regional dispatching traffic as one of the reasons for building tubes. His proposal will use a 42-foot (13 m) diameter shield to excavate the tunnel. The size of this large tunnel is seen as a potential problem, as there is a difference in air pressure at the top and bottom of each tunnel, and the difference in air pressure increases with the larger diameter of the tunnel. So, five engineers are assigned to check the feasibility of Goethals design. In July 1919, President Woodrow Wilson ratified the joint congressional resolution for the trans-Hudson tunnel, and Clifford Milburn Holland was appointed Chief Engineer of the project. Holland states that, based on the construction method used for both pairs of H & amp; M (and for the downtown couple in particular), it should be relatively easy to dig through the mud at the bottom of the Hudson River, and the construction should be completed within two years.
The federal government refuses to finance the project, even in part, and therefore it is the responsibility of countries to raise funds. In June 1919, the US Senator and former New Jersey Governor Edge presented another repetition of the Hudson Tunnel River bill to the US Senate, where it was approved. The governments of New York and New Jersey signed contracts in September 1919, in which states agreed to build, operate, and maintain tunnels in partnership. The contract was signed by each country's tunnel commission in January 1920.
Under the Dutch plan, each of the two tubes will have an outside diameter of 29 feet (8.8 m) including the exterior layer, and the tube will contain a 2 lane highway with a total width of 20 feet (6.1 m). One lane is for slower traffic, and the other for faster traffic. This contrasts with the Goethals plan, where three highways will have a total width of 24.5 feet (7.5 m), just a few meters wider than the Dutch 2nd lane highway. In addition, according to Holland, a 42-foot tube will require more excavation of dirt from the two combined 29-foot tubes: two 29-foot-diameter circles will have a combined area of ​​5,282.2 square feet (490.73 m 2 ), while a circle with a 42-foot diameter will have an area of ​​5,541.8 square feet (514.85 m 2 ). The more northerly western tube will begin at Broome and Varick Streets on the Manhattan side and end at junction 14 and Provost Street on the New Jersey side. The more south to the east will begin at intact intersections of 12th and Provost Streets in Jersey City, and end on the south side of Canal Street near Varick Street. In comparison, Goethals plans will combine the entrance and exit of the Plaza on each side. The American Motor Truck Association did not successfully advocate three lanes in each tube.
Even though the Goethals excavation method has not been tested, he refuses to agree to Holland's proposal, and demands to see evidence that Holland's proposal will succeed. The New York and New Jersey Tunnel Commission later rejected the Goethals plan in favor of a proposed twin-tube proposal made by the Dutch, valued at about $ 28.7 million. When Goethals asked why, the commission responded that the Goethals proposal had not been tested; it is too expensive; and that the tunnel plan has many engineering flaws that can cause flood tubes. In addition, while a tube with three lanes in each direction will be able to handle more traffic than a tube with two lines, the projection shows that traffic on the roads approaching the tunnel can barely handle the amount of incoming traffic to and from the two paths pipeline, and widening approach roads on each side will cost millions more dollars. The Commission then chose to ban further consideration of the Goethals plan. Holland defended his own plans by pointing out that the roads in the Goethals plan would not only feature a narrower road, but would also have too few ventilation ducts to efficiently drain the canister.
In May 1920, the New Jersey legislature voted to approve the commencement of construction, ruling out the veto from the governor of New Jersey. That same month, the governor of New York signed a similar bill passed in the New York legislature. The New Jersey legislature approved a $ 5 million bond issue for the tunnel in December 1920.
Construction
The first bid to build the Hudson River Tunnel, a contract to dig two of the tunnel's eight tuned tunnels, was advertised in September 1920. A breakthrough for the Hudson River ventilation shaft of the tunnel, which marked the official start of development in the tunnel, occurred on October 12, 1920, on Canal and the Washington Streets on the Manhattan side. However, the subsequent construction of the Hudson River Tunnel was soon postponed due to concerns over the ventilation system. There is also a dispute over whether the New York City government should pay for road widening projects on the New Jersey side. Further delays came when the New York and New Jersey tunnel commissions could not approve which agency would award contracts to build construction and ventilation holes.
Ventilation system
The most significant design aspect of the Dutch Tunnel is the ventilation system; it is serviced by four venting towers designed by Norwegian architect Erling Owre. At the time of construction, underwater tunnels were an established part of civil engineering, but no long tunnels were constructed, as all the tunnels under the New York City waterways carry only trains and subways. These tubes do not have much need for ventilation, because trains that use tubes must be electrically powered, and thus emit very little pollution. On the other hand, the traffic in the Dutch Tunnel consists mainly of gasoline-driven vehicles, and ventilation is needed to evacuate carbon monoxide emissions, which otherwise would kill the driver. There were very few tunnels at that time that were not used by rail traffic; the most famous of these non-rail tunnels, the Blackwall Tunnel and the Rotherhithe Tunnel in London, requires no mechanical ventilation. However, the Hudson River Tunnel tunnel requires an efficient ventilation method, so Chief Engineer Singstad pioneered the transverse tunnel ventilation system (perpendicular to the tube).
In October 1920, General George R. Dyer, chairman of the New York Tunnel Commission, published a report in which he stated that Singstad had designed a proper ventilation system for the Hudson River Tunnel. In collaboration with Yale University, the University of Illinois and the United States Mining Bureau, Singstad built an experimental tunnel at an experimental bureau in Bruceton, Pennsylvania, with a length of more than 400 feet (122 m), where cars were lined up with engines. run. Volunteer students are watched as they inhale the exhaust to confirm airflow and tolerable carbon monoxide levels by simulating different traffic conditions, including backups. The University of Illinois, which has hired the only professor of ventilation in the United States, built a 300-foot (91 m) experimental ventilation duct on the Urbana campus to test airflow. In October 1921, Singstad concluded that a conventional longitudinal ventilation system should be pressed down to an airflow rate of 27 cubic meters per second (953 cuà ft/s) along the tunnel. On the other hand, the tunnel can be ventilated sufficiently transversely if the compartment carrying the tube path is placed between two plenaries. A lower plenum beneath the street floor could supply fresh air, and a plenary above the ceiling could deplete smoke at regular intervals.
Two thousand tests were performed with a prototype ventilation system. This system is determined for a fairly low cost, relative to the safety benefits, which are ultimately integrated into the tunnel design. As the tunnel operates, the average carbon monoxide content in both tunnels is 0.69 parts per 10,000 parts of air. The highest levels of carbon monoxide recorded in the Dutch Tunnel are 1.60 parts per 10,000, well below the allowable maximum of 4 parts per 10,000. The public and the press proclaimed better air conditions in the tube than in some streets in New York City; after the tunnel was opened, Singstad stated that the carbon monoxide content in the tube was half that recorded on the streets.
Tunnel boring
The ventilation system and other potential issues were completed in December 1921, and officials announced that the tunnel would break up next spring. The builders were originally thought to build a ditch at the bottom of the Hudson River and then cover it up, but this was deemed unfeasible because of soft soils composed of riverbeds, as well as heavy sea traffic using rivers. Officials began buying property on the tunnel approach path, expelling and compensating the tenants "without delay" so construction could begin immediately. The bid to build the tube was advertised, and three companies responded. On March 29, 1922, the contract for digging the tube was given to the lowest bidder, Booth & amp; Flinn Ltd., for $ 19.3 million. Materials needed to complete the Hudson River Tunnel have been purchased, so it was decided to begin work immediately. Construction on bore began two days later when workers broke ground for an air compressor to move the tube. Ceremonies for air compressors are held at the corner of the Canal and West Roads on the Manhattan side. The excavating workers, referred to as "sandhogs", had to dig each pair of tubes from one side of the Hudson River, so that the two sides would eventually be connected somewhere below the river bed. The tunnel should be 9,250 m (2,820 m) long between the portals, and the path down to a maximum depth of 93 feet (28 m) below the average high water level.
The start of development for tubes from the New Jersey side was delayed because the Hudson River Vessel Command Commission has not obtained some land for the project. Although Jersey City officials insist that the Tunnel Commission widens Roads 12 and 14 in Jersey City, these officials are involved in a price dispute with the Erie Railroad, which has some land to be acquired for road widening. As a result, work on the Hudson River Tunnel was delayed for a year and could not be completed before 1926 at the earliest. Working on the New Jersey side finally began on May 30, 1922, after Jersey City officials continued to refuse to hand over public land for tunneling tunnels. The Jersey City Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter denouncing this act, as members of the New Jersey Tunnel Commission at the Hudson River Tunnel Commission had not been informed of the laying of the first stone until they read it in the newspaper the next day. In mid-June, a state chancellor made a permanent order banning Jersey City officials trying to block development at the Hudson River Tunnel. The Hudson River Tunnel Commission finally decided that Jersey City would not have its own innovative celebration because of the city's efforts to block the construction of the tunnel. However, although Jersey City officials have been accused of delaying development, officials from both countries have wanted the Tunnel Commission to expand the approach road to the Hudson River Tunnel as part of the construction process.
For the project, six tunnels digging shields should be shipped. This shield consists of cylinders whose diameter is wider than the tunnel hole, and these cylinders contain steel plates with various thicknesses on the face that will be moved beneath the river bed. Four of the shields will dig the Hudson River Tunnel under the river, while the remaining two shields will dig from the banks of the Hudson River to Jersey City portals. They can dig rocks at a rate of 2.5 feet (0.76 m) per day, or through mud with a daily rate of 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m). The air compressor will provide air pressure of 20 to 45 pounds per square inch (140 to 310 kPa). The shovel used for tunnel excavation is provided by Marion Power Shovel Company, while six excavation shields are built by Merchants Shipbuilding Corporation. The air compressor was completed in September 1922, and the first shield was installed on the Manhattan side of the construction shaft. At this point, the shaft on the New Jersey side is being dug, and two waterproof caissons are being built.
The shield began boring at the end of October that year after the steel plate needed for shield operations had been delivered. The first permanent steel rings lining the tube were laid down moments later. The Caissons were completed and launched into the river in December, and after the caissons were equipped with necessary equipment such as airlocks, the tugboats dropped the caissons into place in January 1923. Officials projected that at this rate of progress, the tunnel would be completed within 36 months, at the end 1926 or early 1927.
The tunnel construction requires sandhogs to spend much time in caisson under high pressure up to 47.5 pounds per square inch (328 kPa), which is considered necessary to prevent river water from entering before tube completion. Caisson is a massive metal box with various dimensions, but each contains a wall as high as 6 feet (1.8 m). The sandhog enters the tunnel through a series of airlocks, and can only stay inside the tunnel for a specified period of time. Upon exiting the tunnel, the sandhog must undergo controlled decompression to avoid decompression or "bend" disease, a condition in which nitrogen bubbles form in the blood from rapid decompression. The rate of decompression rate for sandhogs working on the Hudson River Tunnel is described as "very small to negligible". Sandhogs decompress like that 756,000 times during the construction process. which resulted in 528 bend cases, although none were fatal. Tunnel pressure caused other problems, including a burst of pressure in April 1924 that flooded the tube.
Due to river geology, the shields digging from the New Jersey side are largely driven through mud, and thus can be pushed at a faster rate than the shields of the New York side, dug through large rock formations. When the workers tried to dig through the Manhattan coastline, they had a few weeks delay due to the existence of a granite bulkhead that had not been recorded on the shoreline. In September 1923, after walking about 1,100 feet (340 m) from the Manhattan coastline, workers found a Manhattan crust under the river bed, forcing them to slow down shield excavation operations from 12.5 feet per day (3.8 m/day) to less than 1 foot per day (0.30 m/day). This outcropping was fed from a river in Manhattan that emptied into the Hudson River. The sandhogs plan to use a small explosive charge to dig through a stone shelf without damaging the shield. By December 1923, some 4,400 feet (1,300 m) of the total length of each tube had been excavated, and the first of the shield had passed through a submerged underwater hole during construction. Due to this unexpected problem, the estimated cost for the tunnel was increased from $ 28 million to $ 42 million in January 1924. By March 1924, all seven of the ventilation openings had been excavated, and three of the four shields that dug underwater had passed. through the axle of each subsea construction, with a fourth shield approaching each axis.
Workers also conduct tests to determine if they can receive radio transmissions while inside the tunnel. They found that they could receive transmissions in most of the Hudson River Tunnels. However, the New Jersey radio station later discovered that there was a place in the middle of a tunnel that had no reception.
Project costs increase as the work progresses. In July 1923, the New York and New Jersey Vehicular Tunnel Commission had revised plans for the entrance and exit of plazas on each side to accommodate an increase in traffic along Canal Street on the Manhattan side. The Commission has spent $ 2.1 million to acquire land. Further redesigns were made in January 1924 due to changes in key components in the tunnel plan, including tunnel and ventilation diameters, which have increased the cost of another $ 14 million.
Nearly finished
Both ends of the two tubes were scheduled to "hide through", or connected to each other, at a ceremony on October 29, 1924, in which President Calvin Coolidge would remotely trigger an explosion to connect both sides of the tunnel.. However, two days before the holing-through ceremony was supposed to take place, the Netherlands died of a heart attack at a sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, age 41. The individual quoted in The New York Times attributed his death to the pressure he was experiencing to oversee the construction of the tunnel. The ceremony was postponed due to respect for Dutch death. The tunnel finally finished on October 29, but it was a show that was not conspicuous without any ceremony. On November 12, 1924, the Hudson River Vehicle Tunnel was renamed the Dutch Tunnel by a state tunnel commission. Holland was replaced by Milton Harvey Freeman, who died of pneumonia in March 1925, after several months of leading the work. After Freeman's death, the position was occupied by Ole Singstad, who oversaw the completion of the tunnel.
As part of the tunnel project, a block of Watts Street in Manhattan will be expanded to accommodate traffic to the western tube. Sixth Avenue is also widened and expanded between Greenwich Village and Church Street. Ten thousand people were evicted to pave the way for the extension of the Sixth Way. The north-south church road is expanded and extends south towards Trinity Place; The West Road is expanded and equipped with elevated elevators; and Vestry and the east-west Laight Streets are also widened. On the New Jersey side, the Dutch Tunnel is to connect a new highway (formerly Extension Route 1: now Route New Jersey 139), which extends westward to Newark. These include the 2,100-foot viaduct (640 m), up 80 feet (24 m) from the 12th and 14th Streets, at the bottom of the Palisades, onto the new highway, at the top of the Palisades. The New Jersey highway approach opened gradually from 1927, and most of the highway was completed in 1930.
The road tunnel development approach on the New Jersey side was postponed for months by the Erie Railroad, the right-of-way Bergen Arches ran parallel and directly south of NJ 139, to the right of the way road proposed approach. Although Erie had promised to look elsewhere for railway bases, Erie refused to respond to plans submitted by the New Jersey State Highway Commission. In March 1925, the Highway Commission decided that the construction of the approach roads would begin regardless of Erie's response, so the land would be taken using the leading domain. This led to a legal dispute between Erie and the Highway Commission. Erie maintains that it really takes 30 feet of land along 12th Street, while the Highway Commission states that the most direct approach to the 12th Street portal of the East Tunnel road should be made using 12th Street. The commission rejected the suggestion that he should use 13th Street, a block north, because it would cost $ 500,000 more and involve two vertical turns. In October 1926, one million dollars was allocated for the completion of the NJ 139 approach.
The contract to build a Dutch Tunnel ventilation system was granted in December 1925. Two months later, the New York-New Jersey Floating Shipping Commission requested funding of more than $ 3.2 million. The tunnel is now estimated to cost $ 46 million, an increase of $ 17 million from what was originally budgeted. The Dutch tunnel is almost complete: in March 1926, Singstad stated that the tunnel is expected to open in February. In May 1926, the tubes were almost fully equipped: the glossy white-tiled walls were in place, as were the bright lighting systems and the road surfaces of Belgian and concrete blocks. The tile surfaces are specially engineered so that they can retain their color even after years of use, and the lighting system used in the Dutch Tunnel is designed to allow motorists to adjust to the gradual change in lighting levels just before leaving the tube.
The ventilation tower was the sole main component of the unfinished Dutch Tunnel, but major advances were made in late 1926. Ole Singstad and the two-state tunnel commission tested the ventilation system of the tunnel by releasing a gas cloud in one of the tubes in February 1927. Singstad then stated that the ventilation system is well equipped for tunnel air ventilation. However, the New York Trade and Transport Council disagreed, stating that the system would be inadequate if there were genuine incidents within the tunnel. In April 1927, the council had conducted their own tests with two lighted candles, and smoke clouds had filled the entire tube before the ventilation system could exhaust the full. The US Department of Surgeon Surgeon supported Singstad's position that the ventilation system could filter out the air of the tube. To confirm the efficacy of the ventilation system, in November 1927, the New York and New Jersey tunnel commissions burned a car inside the tunnel; the ventilation system scattering fire within three and a half minutes.
The Governors of New York and New Jersey took the ceremonial rides through the tunnel in August 1926, meeting at the midpoint. The first unofficial push through the entire Dutch Tunnel was carried out by a group of British businessmen a year later, in August 1927. The following month, a group from the Buffalo Border Port Authority Survey Commission and Niagara also visited the tunnel. In October, a representative delegation from Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, visited the nearly complete Dutch Tunnel to get ideas for the proposed Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. A reporter for The New York Times can test drive through the tunnel, noting that "there is no sudden wind pressure on the ear drum" and that will reduce the duration of the Hudson River crossing between 15 and 22 minutes. Three hundred police officers were trained prior to the opening of the Dutch Tunnel, and the bus company began receiving franchises to operate the bus through the tunnel.
Opening and early years
The Dutch tunnel officially opened at 4:55 pm. (EST) on November 12, 1927. President Coolidge ceremonially opened the tunnel from his yacht by turning the same key that had "opened" the Panama Canal in 1915. Time Magazine called it "the golden lever of the President's telegraph instrument. "It was ringing a giant brass bell at the entrance of the tunnel that sparked an American flag on either side of the tunnel to separate. The tunnel opening ceremony was broadcast on local radio station. About 20,000 people walked along the Holland Tunnel before being closed for pedestrians at 7 pm. The Dutch tunnel was officially opened for vehicular traffic at 12:01 am on November 13th, the following day; more than a thousand vehicles gathered on the New Jersey side, ready to pay the toll fee. The first car to pay the toll was driven by the daughter of the chairman of the New Bridge Bridge and Tunnel Commission. The Chief Engineers' widows Holland and Freeman drive a second vehicle paying the toll. At that time, the Dutch Tunnel was the longest continuous underwater tunnel in the world, as well as the world's first tunnel specially designed for vehicular traffic.
Each passenger car pays 50 cents tolls (worth about $ 7.04 by 2017). Toll for another class of vehicles ranges from 25 cents to motorcycles up to two dollars for large trucks. The commuter bus route, which paid 50 cents per toll vehicle, began operating through the tunnel in December 1927. The truck driver then objected that the price was too high, as the Dutch tunnel's toll truck was double the toll charged on the trans-Hudson ferry; on the contrary, tunnel passenger vehicles, motorcycles, and toll buses are equivalent to those charged by the ferry. Toll revenue will be used to pay tunnel fees (estimated at $ 48 million at $ 1927, equivalent to $ 546 million in 2016). Within ten years of opening, it is expected that all construction costs will be paid off. Horse carrier vehicles are banned from the tunnel from the start, as it is believed that the slow pace of horses will cause traffic congestion inside the tube. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic is also prohibited. A few months before the opening of the tunnel, there were suggestions that pedestrians would be allowed to cross the tunnel if they paid the toll described as "unfavorable," but the idea was never seriously considered.
The Dutch tunnel is expected to reduce congestion on vehicle ferries across the Hudson River, as tunnel capacity is similar to vehicle ferries. Upon opening, it is estimated that up to 15 million vehicles per year can use tunnels in both directions, equating with a daily maximum capacity of 46,000 vehicles or 3,800 vehicle capacity per hour. Singstad stated that an increase in goods traffic across the river would result in the same increase in truck traffic, which would then cause the tunnel to reach its maximum traffic capacity shortly after its opening.
The Dutch tunnel was soon popular: on November 13th, Sunday, it saw 52,285 vehicles on its first day of operation, more than the maximum projected capacity. The lines to enter the tunnel stretch for miles on both ends, although most of these vehicles are passenger cars traveling around to explore the tunnels. On November 14, the first working day in the Netherlands Tunnel, the tunnel carries 17,726 cars. The amount of traffic in the Dutch Tunnel remains relatively stable until the following weekend, when more than 40,000 vehicles pass through the tunnel. The first rush holiday period for the Holland Tunnel came two weeks after the opening of the tunnel, when about 30,000 riders used the tunnels during the Thanksgiving holiday; no major traffic disruptions. Half a million vehicles have passed through the Dutch Tunnel within three weeks, and one million have used tubes on New Year's Day. In the first year of the tunnel, 8.5 million vehicles have used it, and toll revenues have grossed $ 4.7 million; it is estimated that at this rate, the cost of constructing the Dutch Tunnel might pay off much faster than expected.
The Trans-Hudson ferry reports that their traffic numbers have been halved in the two weeks since the tunnel opened, and at least one ferry route reduced service in a month since opening. The other ferry slashed the toll tariff for half of the Dutch Tunnel in an attempt to restore the business. The Hudson & amp; The Manhattan Railroad (then PATH), which operates fast transit services across the Hudson River through Uptown and Downtown Hudson Tubes, also experienced a decrease in the number of passengers after the Dutch Tunnel opened. Even after the start of the Great Depression in 1929, when most transit in New York City declined, the Dutch Tunnel experienced an increase in traffic, as did the ferry lines.
In 1930, there was a dispute between the Hudson River Tunnel Commission and the Port of New York Authority about who would build the Lincoln Tunnel. The tunnel would lie farther north along the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken close to Manhattan. The two institutions merged in April, and the expanded Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over the operation of the Dutch Tunnel, a role that is preserved to this day. However, the title of the actual property has not been passed. The second vehicle network between New Jersey and Manhattan, George Washington Bridge, opened in October 1931. The Lincoln Tunnel, the third and final vehicle connection between New Jersey and Manhattan, first opened in December 1937. In the first 25 years of the Netherlands The opening of the tunnel, carrying 330 million vehicles in total, but most of the Dutch Tunnel traffic was transferred to the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge after the opening of the last two crossings.
Next year
In 1945, the Port Authority approved the expansion of the tunnel approach on the New Jersey side. A new bridge to western traffic will connect the intersection of 14th Street and Jersey Avenue, outside the portal exit of the Dutch Tunnel, to Hoboken Avenue and NJ 139, above the Palisades. This will complement the existing two-way bridge, which connects Hoboken Avenue with 12th Street and currently only carries traffic eastwards. The viaduct 14th Street was first opened for vehicle use in January 1951, although the road was incomplete; officially completed that February. The bridges 12 and 14 The road is then connected also to the NJ Turnpike Extension. The first part of the expansion, the Newark Bay Bridge, opened between Bayonne and Newark Airport in April 1956; the relationship between Bayonne and the 12/14th Street road bridge was completed in September, providing a direct highway connection between the Dutch Tunnel and Newark Airport. The NJ Turnpike Extension, as well as the Dutch Tunnel and the 12/14th Street approach, were designated as part of the I-78 in 1958.
The Port Authority voted in 1953 to replace the original customs on the New Jersey side, which contain no canopy, with an updated plaza containing the canopy. The following year, the Port Authority also chose to update the Dutch Tunnel administration building on the New Jersey side, as well as build a new service building. The development of a miniature electric car measuring 2 feet (0.61 m) for a tunnel police car, installed on a tube catwalk, was announced in August 1954. The Port Authority tested a "catwalk car" along the 2,200 ft (670 m) stretch of the Dutch Tunnel, passed the test, the police can patrol along the tube using the catwalk of the car instead of having to walk along the tube. By using a swivel chair, the police can drive the car in both directions.
Beginning in the 1940s, New York City officials developed a plan to connect the tip of the Manhattan Tunnel to the Lower Manhattan Express Road, the proposed flyover connects to the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn. This connection will be part of I-78. In 1956, Robert Moses suggested adding a third tube to the Dutch Tunnel, similar to the third tube of the Lincoln Tunnel, so there would be sufficient capacity for the proposed road traffic. The route from the Lower Manhattan Expressway was approved in 1960, but quickly became controversial because of the large number of tenants who had to be relocated. Lower Lowerway Manhattan Project was finally canceled in March 1971.
In 1970, the Port Authority stopped collecting tolls for motorists using New Jersey through the Dutch Tunnel, which uses a westward pipe, while doubling the toll into $ 1 for drivers in New York, which uses the pipe to the east. This was done in an effort to speed up traffic, and it was the first toll boost in tunnel history. Although westerners initially save time by not paying for tolls, the removal of tolls going west eventually has a negative impact on traffic in the Dutch Tunnel. In 1986, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, between the New York City districts of Brooklyn and Staten Island, stopped collecting a toll for the Brooklyn-bound driver (who generally headed east) and doubled the cost for a Staten Island-bound rider (who generally headed west ). It has the effect of increasing congestion along the New Jersey-bound tube of the Dutch Tunnel, which drivers can be used for free. The driver will pass through New Jersey and use the Bayonne Bridge, paying a lower toll to enter Staten Island. The amount of traffic to the west in the Dutch Tunnel increased in comparison with traffic to the east: in 1998, there were 50,110 trips westward daily and 46,688 trips east each day through tunnels. At the same time, there was a decrease in the westbound journey on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge compared to the bridge to the east. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll pattern also causes traffic jams around the Dutch Tunnel, and Canal Street sees the most severe congestion as it serves as the main entrance to the tunnel. Fatal accidents involving pedestrians in Lower Manhattan are also greatly improved as a result. The rush hour jam in the Dutch Tunnel has been going on for more than thirty years due to the one way Verrazano-Narrow Bridge toll bridge.
Renovation of the Holland Tunnel tile ceiling, which worsened due to water damage, began in 1983. The ceiling was replaced at a total cost of $ 78 million, and the first renovated southern tube ceiling. Because the Dutch Tunnel must remain open during renovation, 4,000 modular concrete ceiling panels are made offsite, and a narrow lifting truck parked on one of two pipelines installing a panel while traffic continues to move through another tube path. Each panel is designed to specific parts of the tube, so there are no identical ceiling panels; The Port Authority stated that the ceiling replacement project is the first in the world. In 1988, after the ceiling renovation was completed, work began with replacing the 8-lane tollbooth, consisting of six lanes built in the 1950s and two additional lanes built in the 1980s. The new $ 54 million toll road contains 9 lanes and a central control center.
The Dutch tunnel was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 27, 1993, becoming part of the National Register of Historic Places. With this title, he became 92 National Historic Landmark in New York City, as well as the sixth landmark which is a tunnel. According to M. Ann Belkov, supervisor of the National Park Service for Ellis Island, the tunnel has been given a landmark status because it is the world's first "mechanized ventilated underwater wind tunnel tunnel". Between 2003 and 2006, fire protection systems in both tunnels were modernized. A fire extinguisher is placed in a niche along the tunnel wall. Even though the water supply was turned off, it remained in place during the renovation.
The Dutch tunnel closed on October 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy approached. The tunnels, like many other New York City tunnels, are flooded by high storm surges; it is the first example in the history of the tunnel in which the entire tube is flooded. It remains closed for several days, opened for buses only on November 2nd and for all traffic on November 7th.
Accidents and terrorism
The first fatal car accident in the Dutch Tunnel occurred in March 1932, four and a half years after it opened. One person died and two others were injured.
1949 Tunnel Holland Tunnel, which started a chemical truck abaord, caused severe damage to the southern tube of the tunnel. The fire produced 69 cuts and nearly $ 600,000 of structural damage. In addition, the first two responders, an FDNY battalion chief and a Port Authority patrol officer, died as a result of injuries suffered in a fire battle.
Because of its status as one of the few connections between Manhattan and New Jersey, the Dutch Tunnel is considered one of the highest-risk terrorist targets in the United States. Other sites such as in New Jersey include the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken, PATH stations at the Exchange Place in Jersey City, and the Port of Newark in Elizabeth. In 1995, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine others were convicted of a bomb plot in which a radical Islamic group planned to blow up five or six sites in New York City, including Holland and Lincoln Tunnels and the George Washington Bridge.
Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Dutch Tunnel remained closed to everyone except for emergency traffic for more than a month. When it reopened on October 15, 2001, strict new regulations were enacted banning single-vehicle vehicles and trucks from entering the tunnel. In March 2002, even before all post-9/11 restrictions had been lifted, a barn fire near the eastern port of New Jersey tube caused the tunnel to shut completely for five days; fire continued for more than a week. In April, all trucks were banned from the western tubes, and trucks with more than three axles were also banned from tubes heading east. A single passenger vehicle is banned in the tunnel on working mornings between 6:00 am and 10:00 am to 17 November 2003, when the restriction is lifted.
In 2006, a plot to detonate explosives in a Hudson River tunnel was discovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Initially it was reported that the Dutch Tunnel was a target, but in its source update, the plot was clarified to be directed to a PATH tube rather than the Dutch Tunnel.
Tolls
On December 6, 2015, cash costs from New Jersey to New York were $ 15 for cars and motorcycles; there are no tolls for passenger vehicles departing from New York to New Jersey. E-ZPass users are charged $ 10.50 for cars and $ 9.50 for motorcycles during off-peak hours, and $ 12.50 for cars and $ 11.50 for motorcycles during peak hours.
Toll collected at a toll booth on the New Jersey side. Initially, tolls are collected in both directions. In August 1970, the toll was wiped out for the driver heading west, and at the same time, the driver heading east saw their toll doubled. Toll from eleven New Jersey-New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along the 130-mile stretch (210 km), from Outerbridge Crossing in the south to Rip Van Winkle Bridge to the north, was also converted eastward only at that time. E-ZPass was first available in the Dutch Tunnel in October 1997.
Historically, tolls are:
See also
- Transportation in New York City
- Ferry crossing list of the Hudson River
- List of tunnels documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in New York
- List of bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey
- List of tunnels documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey
References
Further reading
- Jackson, Robert W. (2011). Highway Under the Hudson: History of the Dutch Tunnel . New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-4299-8.
- The Dutch Tunnel, New York Daily News, Wednesday, February 25, 2009
External links
- Port Authority of New York & amp; New Jersey: The Dutch Tunnel
- Historical American Engineering Record (HAER) no. NY-161, "The Dutch Tunnel, the Beneath Hudson River between New York & Jersey City, New York, New York County, NY"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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