the queen's midtown tunnel was opened in 1940 by the new york city tunnel authority to relieve
traffic congestion on the city's east river bridges as one of the most significant public
works projects of the new deal era it represented the most advanced tunnel engineering techniques of
its day the tunnel spans 6414 feet long connects queens to midtown manhattan and consists of twin
tubes made up of four traffic lanes in the years since its groundbreaking the queen's
midtown tunnel remains just as vital to new york city as it did when it opened for traffic today
we discover the queen's midtown tunnel i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
perhaps not surprisingly the inspiration for the queen's midtown tunnel was the holland tunnel
which opened in 1927 and you may remember from a previous video anyhow soon after support grew for
the constructing of a vehicle tunnel to relieve congestion on the east river bridges so in 1921
the new york city board of estimate appropriated two million dollars to the board of transportation
for the design and construction of an east river tunnel the army corps of engineers approved the
tunnel plan at the end of 1930 but the great depression precluded any further spending
by the city even so new york politicians would not leave that decade in vain you see the queen's
midtown tunnel was initially proposed in 1921 by manhattan's borough president julius miller
and he caused a little agitation as the brooklyn borough president james j byrne had not even
been consulted about these plans he expressed his displeasure that queens and manhattan had offered
the triborough tunnel without consulting him first anyhow that december mayor james j walker formed a
commission to study traffic congestion on new york city bridges and tunnels local civic groups felt
that it would be inadequate to increase capacity on existing crossings like the queensboro bridge
since there were no roads connecting long island with midtown manhattan so with that in mind the
city ultimately declined to give its immediate support to the triboro tunnel project in april
1927 civic groups formed the 38th street tunnel committee to advocate for the tunnel the groups
stated that the tunnel would act as a relief corridor for traffic from midtown manhattan
which at the time had to use other crossings to the north or south that june the city voted
to allocate one hundred thousand dollars towards surveying sites and making test boards following
news of this allotment several more civic groups expressed support for the tunnel and urged that it
be completed as soon as possible by february of 1929 35 civic groups supported the construction
of the tunnel simultaneously civic groups proposed a system of tunnels under manhattan
connecting queens in the east with weehawk in new jersey in the west the group suggested that the
queen's midtown tunnel connect with the lincoln tunnel which would cross the hudson river and
continue westward to new jersey the planned tunnel would originate at 10th avenue on manhattan's west
side run underneath manhattan streets and the east river and surface near borden avenue on the
long island city side the tunnel would contain exits to oakland street in greenpoint brooklyn
and third avenue in manhattan the fifth avenue association further proposed that
the city create a bridge and tunnel authority to raise funding and oversee construction and
operations the proposed agency would be similar to the port of new york authority which constructed
and operated hudson river crossings but the construction wouldn't come so much later
in 1936 mayor laguardia created the new york city tunnel authority to construct a twin tube tunnel
proposed six years earlier between the east side of manhattan and long island city the east river
tunnel along with the hudson river lincoln tunnel was to form a continuous route from long island
to new jersey citing the deep division between new york city coordinator robert moses and president
franklin d roosevelt who approved the 58 million dollar public works administration loan for the
tunnel specifically left moses out of the tunnel authority by stating in legislation that quote
an unsalaried state official shall not be eligible laguardia sought engineers outside moses's triboro
bridge authority most notably famed tunnel engineer ole singstan to construct the queen's
midtown tunnel meanwhile moses tried to influence upstate politicians to deny the authority but was
unsuccessful when governor lehman sided with laguardia in reality moses was recognized and
needed for a midtown manhattan crossing instead of a tunnel he argued that a bridge be constructed
at east 37th street however this proposal was never defended with the same vigor
as previous moses proposals since it would have meant the condemnation of blocks of office and
apartment buildings the demolition would have come at astronomical cost but the removal of these
properties from the tax rolls would have been too much for the city to bear anyhow the power broker
carroll argued that the source of the difference of opinion stemmed not from the proposal itself
but from who should control the proposal moses wanted to be in charge but others felt that
olei should be appointed in that position before construction began engineers doing preliminary
work drilled out core samples of the earth beneath the east river to be used in concert with what was
already known from excavations carried out from prior tunneling efforts in the area such as the
pennsylvania railroad tunnel at east 33rd street or the ind tunnels at 53rd street which revealed
wide variations in the geology of the east river and its shorelines where there was solid bedrock
tunnel workers or sand hogs blasted through with dynamite in other areas massive circular cutting
shields similar to those used on the holland and lincoln tunnels were hydraulically powered through
the ground beneath the river as these shields were moved the tubes behind them were lined with
rings of cast iron and welded steel nevertheless the geological variations in the project area
made for a more challenging costly tunneling process than encountered through an all silt or
all rock environment and let me offer you a little perspective on what that meant in practice
you see during a 24-hour period one advance of the tunneling shield or a shove as it was called would
measure only two feet and eight inches for the queen's midtown tunnel in contrast a shove during
a 24-hour period measured as much as 47 and a half feet for the holland and lincoln tunnels
both of which were constructed through the more hospitable silt of the hudson river accordingly
singstad refined some of the techniques used in his earlier tunnels additionally to accommodate
the broader cars of the 1930s and 40s he designed each tube in the queen's midtown tunnel to be one
and a half feet wider than a similar tube in the holland tunnel ventilation buildings were
constructed on both the manhattan and queens shores to change the tunnel's air a complete
air change in the tunnel takes place approximately every hour president franklin d roosevelt broke
ground for the tunnel on october the 2nd 1936 and with the walsh construction company contracted
construction began on july the 9th 1937. the maximum gradient for the tunnel is four percent
for descending sections and three and a half percent for ascending sections though the entrance
areas are gated by a toll plaza to the east the queen's toll plaza is located in long island city
at the western terminus of the long island expressway with its original section opening
as a one mile long elevated midtown highway this expressway extends the line of the tunnel
east into queens in addition entrance and exit points are also found at 21st street to the west
the manhattan approaches were designed to handle tunnel traffic and city cross traffic however the
western systems do not continue the straight line of the tunnel because the manhattan side of the
tunnel rises as a bluff overlooking the east river it was not feasible to extend the line from the
tunnel to midtown streets on a short direct course without either exceeding acceptable gradients or
condemning significant rights of way to reach the manhattan approaches the tunnel alignment shifts
south for six blocks before turning west emerging at second avenue between east 36th street and 37th
street on november the 8th 1939 months ahead of schedule sandhogs digging from the manhattan
and queens shorelines hold through successfully and i need to add a little emphasis here it only
took 28 months at a rate of 140 feet per month to drive the tunnel to the point of pulling through
remarkably and unlike other projects of its era there were no deaths from the bends an affliction
caused by compressed air of the tunnel in fact the queen's midtown tunnel was only the second major
tunnel project to claim such a success with the first being the lincoln tunnel the queen's midtown
tunnel was completed on november the 15th 1940. when it opened it was the largest non-federal
project of its time president roosevelt who broke ground on the tunnel four years earlier was the
first person to drive through the new tunnel with five thousand lucky new york citizens having had
an opportunity to walk through one of its tubes a few days prior this tunnel enjoyed modest success
early on carrying approximately 12 000 vehicles per day during its first full year in operation
in 1941 when moses finally took over the new york city tunnel authority in 1946 one of the main
points on his agenda was to argue for improved access to the tunnel you see post-war development
plans championed new expressway proposals such as the queen's midtown later long island expressway
and of course the unbuilt mid manhattan expressway by 1965 the queen's midtown and brooklyn battery
tunnels provided nearly one-third of the triboro bridge and tunnel authority's total revenue
in the mid 1960s moses proposed the construction of a 120 million dollar third tube for the queen's
midtown tunnel the third tube was a part of a master plan to revive the mid manhattan expressway
and provide access from manhattan to kennedy airport via the ridgewood or queens interboro
expressway when completed the queen's midtown tunnel was to allow for flexibility in handling
peak traffic during rush hour four lanes were provided in each direction in off-peak hours
three lanes were provided in each direction by converting the center tube into a two-way
operation combined with new expressways the project's total cost was projected at 450 million
dollars however given the increasing sentiment against new highways moses's proposal was defeated
to put things politely the decades were not kind to the tunnel and the wear and tear or grit of
new york city became very evident so in 1998 mta bridges and tunnels began a three-year 132 million
dollar rehabilitation of the queen's midtown tunnel during the project's first stage workers
constructed a new roof for the tunnel which was no simple task the top of each tunnel comprised of
concrete slabs each of which measuring in at 20 feet long and weighing eight tons
these elements were suspended from steel brackets and secured by giant steel anchors jammed deep
into the concrete shell of the tunnel however concerns about the displacement of steel anchors
caused by vibrations from the tunnel led engineers to another solution the new
plan called for mounting the brackets to steel rods and essentially gluing them into the shell
using a glue quartz adhesive compound to make them one with the concrete this project stage which
included replacing wall and ceiling tiles a new fire protection system new lights and other
structural work was completed in 2001. another 19 million dollar project which included replacing
electrical mechanical and communication systems was completed in 2008 with nearly all work carried
out during the overnight hours as to not disrupt traffic and this really is an amazing story as
aside from minor upgrades to add brighter lighting and new ceiling the queen's midtown tunnel has not
really required significant rehabilitation work since president roosevelt broke ground for the
project back in 1936 well that was until october of 2012 when hurricane sandy hit the new york
metropolitan region submerging 40 percent of the queen's midtown tunnel the salt water that
flooded inside damaged the tunnel's fixtures including its lighting traffic lights and signals
ten days after the storm the tunnel reopened with full traffic access according to the metropolitan
transportation authority however lingering repairs are still occurring
to carry out the restoration work mta bridges and tunnels was awarded a four-year and 230
million dollar contract back in 2015. we should also add that the queen's midtown
tunnel originally had 23 ventilation fans each the size of a small car however they were worn out or
exhausted after 65 years on the job so as part of another 18.8 million dollar renovation the carbon
steel bladed fans were replaced with stainless steel ones which are easier to maintain and this
is an amazing upgrade as the new fans which clear the tunnel of pollutants and carbon monoxide move
2.8 million cubic feet of air per minute and can completely clear out both tubes every 90 seconds
another feature that has changed since the tunnel's opening is the original brick roadway
which was replaced with asphalt in 1995. the queen's midtown tunnel serves as the westbound
terminus of the 71 mile long long island expressway the official federal highway
administration route log shows the tunnel as part of new york 495. on the manhattan side the
north-south approaches collect and empty traffic efficiently onto the east-west streets according
to the new york state department of transportation the tunnel currently carries approximately 80
thousand vehicles per day as of april the 11th 2021 drivers pay 10 and 17 cents per car or
4.28 cents per motorcycle for all tolls by mail ezpass users with transponders issued by the new
york easy pass customer service center pay 6.55 cents per car or 2.85 cents per motorcycle open
road cashless tolling started on january the 10th 2017. the tollbooths were dismantled and drivers
could no longer pay cash at the tunnel instead cameras and easy pass readers are mounted overhead
on the manhattan side any vehicle without an easy pass has a picture taken of its license plate
and a bill for the toll is mailed to the owner now i imagine for people who have to cross this
tunnel on a daily basis these tolls must add up to astronomical amounts so before we all get
depressed thinking about the wasted money spent to drive through a tunnel let's wrap up this video
with some fun facts between the years of 1981 and 2011 the queen's midtown tunnel was closed
one night of each spring in anticipation of the annual ringling brothers and barnum bailey's
circus animal walk when elephants marched from queens through the tunnel to madison square
garden the walk was about 2 miles long which would have taken a human 40 minutes to complete
sadly after the circus moved to the barclays center in 2012 the elephant walk through the
queen's midtown tunnel ceased to take place but at least the animal activists were delighted another
fun fact is that doug holder once wrote a 72-page book of poems about the queen's midtown tunnel
it's called the man in the booth at the midtown tunnel the book features a series of poems that
shed light on various characters encountered by the author overall the queen's midtown tunnel is
a significant connection between midtown manhattan and queens the tunnel consists of two tubes
that each carry two traffic lanes the southern tube typically carries eastbound traffic to queens
and the northern tube usually takes westbound traffic to manhattan on the manhattan side is
an attractive residential neighborhood with the queen's portal in the hunters point district of
long island city a historic entryway to the borough not to mention a rail and transfer
point in the 19th century the queen's midtown tunnel was the first roadway under the east river
to connect manhattan and long island and was a marvel of engineering when it opened
over 75 years ago today a tale that has played out time and again in new york city and if
you'd like to learn more about the tunnels of new york you can binge watch our playlist
on the history of tunnels consider supporting the channel by clicking join and subscribe to
catch new videos every thursday and saturday until next time this is ryan socash signing off