Lincoln Tunnel

The Lincoln Tunnel is a 1.5 mile long tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and the borough of Manhattan in New York City.

History

The tunnel was designed by Ole Singstad and construction began on the first tube in 1934. It opened to traffic in 1937, charging $0.50 per passenger car. The costs of construction were about $80 million. Omero C. Catan, a salesman from Manhattan, drove the first car through the tunnel, after waiting in line for 30 hours.

The original design called for two tubes. Work on the second was halted in 1938 but resumed in 1941. Due to war material shortages of metal, completion was delayed for two years. It opened on February 1, 1945 at a cost of $80 million, with Michael Catan, brother of Omero, selected to be the first to lead the public through the tube.

A third tube was proposed by the Port Authority, but initially opposed by the City of New York, which was trying to get the Port Authority to help pay for the road improvements that the City would need to handle the additional traffic. A compromise was worked out, and the third tunnel was finally completed in May 1957.

Traffic

The three tubes carry six traffic lanes in total. During the morning rush hour one traffic lane called the XBL is used exclusively by buses. The New Jersey approach roadway, locally known as the Helix or "the Corkscrew", spirals in a full circle before arriving at the toll booths in front of the tunnel portals.

The tunnel carries about 120,000 vehicles per day, making it one of the busiest vehicular tunnels in the world. The XBL is by far the busiest and most productive bus lane in the United States. The lane operates weekday mornings between 6:15 and 10:00 a.m., accommodating approximately 1,700 buses and 62,000 commuters, mainly to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Events in the Tunnel

Shortly after noon on September 8, 1953, two armed men, Peter Simon and John Metcalf, attempted to rob a home in South Orange, New Jersey. The men were driven off by the residents, one of whom reported the license plate on their car to the police, who put out an alert. A patrolman, Nicholas Falabella, noticed the car just as it passed the toll booth and ordered the driver to stop the vehicle. The driver sped off into the tunnel, firing at the police. A Port Authority policeman, Donald Lackmun, was hit in the leg. The police commandeered a delivery truck and gave chase, exchanging gun fire with the renegade car while weaving in and out of traffic. In all 28 shots were fired, ten by the gunmen and 18 by the police. The vehicle came to a stop about three fourths of the way through the tunnel. Simon was hit in the head.

The tunnel was targeted by terrorists to be destroyed in the summer of 1993 in the New York City landmark bomb plot, but the plan was foiled.

Route numbers

With the cancellation of the Mid-Manhattan Expressway, intended to carry Interstate 495 through New York City to the Queens Midtown Tunnel and onto the Long Island Expressway, the NYDOT and NJDOT demoted the Lincoln Tunnel, Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and the freeway link to NJ 3 as state routes. Some signs still list the tunnels as I-495. Although the Federal Highway Administration still considers the midtown tunnel to be an Interstate, the Lincoln Tunnel is no longer on the Interstate system. In New Jersey, the freeway was officially demoted to NJ 495 and very few signs still read "I-495". 34th Street links the disjointed segments of I-495.