More than 33 million vehicles go through the Holland Tunnel every year, making their way to and from Jersey City and Lower Manhattan. Roughly 90,000 vehicles travel the tunnel’s 1.6-mile corridor on a daily basis. Yet how much do we know about this amazing feat of early 20th-century engineering?
Who built this tunnel?
How did they do it?
What did it cost? In dollars and in lives?
How is it ventilated?
What keeps drivers from being poisoned by toxic fumes?
Is it under the bedrock?
Was it the first tunnel under the rivers around New York City?
What did it take for New Jersey and New York politicians to create this connection between their states?
How did they do it?
What did it cost? In dollars and in lives?
How is it ventilated?
What keeps drivers from being poisoned by toxic fumes?
Is it under the bedrock?
Was it the first tunnel under the rivers around New York City?
What did it take for New Jersey and New York politicians to create this connection between their states?
Robert W. Jackson answers these and many other questions in Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel, a fascinating story about this seminal structure in the history of urban transportation.
In this meticulously researched and compelling work, Robert Jackson provides the first complete history of the planning, financing and construction of the Holland Tunnel.
Dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” when it opened in 1927, the Holland Tunnel was the longest and largest vehicular tunnel in the world at the time of its construction, and the first tunnel that could boast a ventilation system specifically designed to accommodate motor vehicular traffic.
The creation of the Holland Tunnel advanced the technology of tunnel construction and deeply impacted the urban infrastructure of New Jersey and New York City.