Connecting Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, running under the Hudson R., New York, New York. County/parish: New York.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places November 04, 1993. NRIS 93001619.
5 contributing structures.
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. It consists of two tubes: the eastbound tube is a toll road, while the westbound tube is toll-free. 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.
The Holland Tunnel is named for Clifford Milburn Holland, its initial chief engineer, who died suddenly in 1924 prior to its opening. It was the world's first mechanically ventilated tunnel, with a ventilation system designed by Ole Singstad, who oversaw the tunnel's completion. The tubes are made of cast-iron rings covered by concrete and measuring 29.5 feet (9.0 m) in diameter, running parallel under the river. Each tube fits two lanes and has 12 feet 6 inches (3.81 m) of vertical clearance. At the western end of the tunnel, the westbound tube exits onto 14th Street, while the eastbound tube is accessed from Boyle Plaza on 12th Street. At the eastern end, the eastbound tube exits onto the Holland Tunnel Rotary (occupying the site of the former St. John's Park Terminal), while the westbound tube is accessed from Freeman Plaza.
Plans for a fixed vehicular crossing over the Hudson River were first drawn up in 1906. Disagreements prolonged the planning process until 1919, when a tunnel under the river was approved in lieu of a bridge. 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. There were plans to connect the tunnel to highways on both ends, but the highway on the New York side, the Lower Manhattan Expressway, was never completed. Tolls were collected in both directions until 1970, when tolls for westbound traffic were abolished. The tunnel was refurbished in the 1980s and the 2020s.
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