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 NJ 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.
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.
Description
Tubes
The Holland Tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It consists of a pair of tubes with diameters, running roughly parallel to each other and apart underneath the Hudson River. The exteriors of each tube are composed of a series of cast iron rings, each of which comprises 14 curved steel pieces that are each long. The steel rings are covered by a layer of concrete.
Each tube provides a roadway with two lanes and of vertical clearance. The north tube is between portals, while the south tube is slightly shorter, at . If each tube's immediate approach roads are included, the north tube is long and the south tube long. Most vehicles carrying hazmats, trucks with more than three axles, and vehicles towing trailers cannot use the tunnel. There is a width limit of for vehicles entering the tunnel.
Both tubes' underwater sections are long and are situated in the silt beneath the river. The lowest point of the roadways is about below mean high water. The lowest point of the tunnel ceiling is about below mean high water. The tubes descend at a maximum grade of 4.06% and ascend at a grade of up to 3.8%. The tubes stretch an additional from the eastern shoreline to the New York portals, and from the western shoreline to the New Jersey portals.
These sections of the tunnel are more rectangular in shape, since they were built as open cuts that were later covered over. The walls and ceiling are furnished with glazed ceramic tiles, which were originally engineered to minimize staining. The majority of the tiles are white, but there is a two-tile-high band of yellow-orange tiles at the bottom of each tube's walls, as well as two-tile-high band of blue tiles on the top.
The northern tube, which carries westbound traffic, originates at Broome Street in Lower Manhattan between Varick and Hudson Streets. It continues to 14th Street east of Marin Boulevard in Jersey City. The southern tube, designed for eastbound traffic, originates at 12th Street east of Marin Boulevard, and surfaces at the Holland Tunnel Rotary in Manhattan. The entrance and exit ramps to and from each portal are lined with granite and are wide. Although the two tubes' underwater sections are parallel and adjacent to each other, the tubes' portals on either side are located two blocks apart in order to reduce congestion on each side.
The Holland Tunnel's tubes initially contained a road surface made of Belgian blocks and concrete. This was replaced with asphalt in 1955. Each tube contains a catwalk on its left (inner) side, raised above the roadway. Five emergency-exit cross-passages connect the two tubes' inner catwalks. When the Holland Tunnel opened, the catwalk was equipped with police booths and a telephone system, stationed at intervals of .