Skip to main content
Society
Main Category
Sub Category
Era
Date Created
Location Country
us
Coordinates
40.727222, -74.011389
Address1
Hudson River Greenway; Manhattan
City
New York
State
Country
The first long underwater tunnel in the world designed for motor vehicle use was built from 1920 to 1927. The 29.5-foot-diameter, 8,500-foot-long twin tubes of this tunnel were shield-driven by the pneumatic method through extremely difficult river-bottom conditions that were overcome by the ingenuity and determination of its engineers, Clifford M. Holland, Milton H. Freeman, and Ole Singstad. They were the largest in the United States when built. The unprecedented length was a bold step forward in subaqueous tunnel engineering. The principal feature of the cast iron-lined tunnel is the ventilating system. Its design was based on elaborate theories of physiological and mechanical tests conducted mainly by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The resulting system -- forcing fresh air at the ceiling over the entire tunnel length -- has been the model for all succeeding vehicular tunnels. The air is moved by forty-two blowing and forty-two exhaust fans of 6,000 total horsepower, arranged in four ventilating buildings. The tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Image Credit
Courtesy Flickr/Bill Benzon (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption
Holland Tunnel Ventilation System

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.