The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River. It connects the New York City neighborhood of SoHo in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. An integral conduit within the New York metropolitan area, the Holland Tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Once described as the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” at the time of completion it was the longest underwater vehicular tunnel, the first tunnel constructed with a ventilation system specifically designed to handle automobile and truck exhaust fumes, and had the largest tube width—twin tubes at 9 m in diameter, setting the standard for other vehicular tunnels throughout the world that followed.
The Holland Tunnel was originally known as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel or the Canal Street Tunnel. It was renamed the Holland Tunnel in memory of Clifford Milburn Holland, the chief engineer, following his sudden death in 1924 before the tunnel was opened.
The north tube is 8,558 feet (2,608 metres) long and the south tube 8,371 feet (2,551 metres) long. The roadway is 20 feet (6.1 metres) wide and reaches a maximum depth below mean high water of 93.4 feet (28.5 metres).
The Holland Tunnel was the world’s first mechanically ventilated tunnel; the ventilation system was designed by Ole Singstad, who oversaw the tunnel’s completion.
According to britannica.com; ascemetsection.org; en.wikipedia.org. Source of photo: internet
