THE BROOKLYN TUNNEL

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26126, 31 May 1950, Page 8

THE BROOKLYN TUNNEL

Mammoth Feat Of Engineering ACCESS TO NEW YORK (By a Reuter Correspondent) NEW YORK, May 23. Manhattan, centre of New York’s five boroughs, will be linked under water with a fourth trans-river area when the Brooklyn tunnel is opened on May 25. Building of the tunnel has taken 10 years, at a cost of 83,000,000 dollars. President Roosevelt turned the first sod a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour put the United States into the last war, which caused a suspension of construction from 1942 to 1945. The Brooklyn tunnel is the second longest under-water vehicle tunnel in the world. It is surpassed only by that under the Mersey river from Liverpool to Birkenhead. It is 9117 feet long, compared with the Mersey tunnel’s 11,254 feet. It extends under the East river from the southernmost tip of Manhattan—the Battery—to the west side of Brooklyn, most populous of New York’s boroughs. Manhattan, roughly a pear-shaped island, has faced throughout its history the problem of linking itself with areas across the waters surrounding it. Bridges, tunnels, and ferries solved this problem of communications. The East river, running the 15 miles from Long Island Sound to New York Bay and more than a mile wide in parts, has proved a particular barrier to New York’s urban travellers. The river separates Manhattan from Long Island, on which there are two of the five boroughs—Brooklyn and Queens. There are five bridges, nine railway tunnels, and after the opening of the Battery-Brooklyn link, two vehicle tunnels connecting Manhattan and those two boroughs. Bronx is the borough north of Manhattan. By an amazing system of concrete and steel construction, the bridge spans the East river, via two islands, to Manhattan. The Triborough consists of three bridges, each of a different type, connected by long viaducts. In all, the bridge is three miles long. It took seven years to build and was opened in 1936. One of the bridges, a suspension type, is considered one of the world’s greatest engineering feats. With a main span of 1380 feet and side spans making a total of 2780 feet, it crosses the famous “Hell Gate’’—a part of the East river where conflicting currents meet and the water

“boils.” Triborough bridge now carries an annual traffic of nearly 25,000,000 vehicles. From North to South, the other bridges, the Queensboro. Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn. The last-named, a huge suspension structure, is still claimed, after 67 years’ existence, to be “the most beautiful bridge in the world.’’ These four carry an annual traffic of more than 60,000,000 vehicles. 11,000,000 Vehicles a Year The Queens Midtown tunnel goes under the East river from Manhattan to Long Island city (in Queens Borough). It was opened in 1940. It carries two lanes of traffic through each of its tite-lined steel and cast-iron tubes, each 31 feet in diameter. It is used by 11,000,000 vehicles annually. Westwards, Manhattan is connected with the State of New Jersey across the Hudson river by the George Washington bridge, carrying eight lanes of traffic along its 8700 feet of suspended roadway since its opening in 1931; by two vehicle tunnels; and by 16 ferries, seven of these being from railway traffic. The tunnels are the Lincoln and the Holland. The first tube of the Lincoln was opened at the end of 1937, but the second was not completed until early 1945, war having delayed its construction.

The two-tube four-lane Holland tunnel connects Manhattan and Jersey City. It is the main outlet for south bound road traffic from New York. To this impressive group of cross-water and underwater links, the Brooklyn Tunnel will take its place as a means of catering for New York’s swirling flood of wheeled traffic. For 35 cents toll, the motorist will be able to drive through a glistening whitetiled tube in about four minutes. It will link him with east side and west side highways of Manhattan, and the belt Parkway of Long Island. The Brooklyn Tunnel is regarded as probably the most important artery yet built in this city’s vast vehicle communications network of bridges, tunnels and superb highways. Previously the route has been served by ferries. Engineers bored through solid rock with the top of their tubes not less than 20 feet below the riverbed and as deep as 115 feet below. The bored holes were lined with castiron rings, which were then covered with concrete and topped with tiles. Four ventilation stations and 53 fans, each eight feet in diameter, will supply 25.000 tons of fresh air an hour through the tunnels. That means more than 4,000,000 cubic feet of air will be blown through them every There are the “blowers” buildings to supply this air. One is on the Manhattan side, one in Brooklyn, and one near Governor’s Island, about half-way across the East river.