When was brooklyn battery tunnel built

In the end, perhaps the Battery crossing decision stemmed from the long-stemming grudge between Moses and Roosevelt. These photos show the Manhattan approach to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Photos from U. National Archives. Work on the tunnel, originally scheduled for completion in October , was halted due to World War II-induced steel and iron shortages. When construction resumed in late , it was Moses and the newly combined Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority that would be charged with finishing the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.

More than one million pounds of dynamite were used to bore through rock and earth beneath New York Harbor. About 13, tons of steel, , cubic yards of concrete, 1, miles of electrical wire, , bolts, and , wall and ceiling tiles went into the structure. In addition, about 93, tons of cast iron were used to line the tunnel. Ventilation was to be provided by 53 fans, operated by motors that release 6,, cubic feet of fresh air into the tunnel. It takes approximately 90 minutes to completely change the air in the tunnel.

Edward Faughnan, one of the "sandhogs" who worked on the tunnel, recalled his experiences in the following Newsday excerpt: "It was a wonderful experience.

It made a better man out of me. I met a lot of wonderful men who helped me mold my life. They were real men, hard-working men, mostly immigrants, men from the South. John Wayne made movies about a lot of people, but I don't think he could ever have made one about sandhogs. They are the finest men on the face of the earth. I'm still in touch with a lot of them. The 9,foot-long tunnel, which remains today the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the world, was a success from the very beginning, carrying approximately 41, vehicles per day during its first full year of operation in By , revenues from the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels, projects both originally opposed by Moses, generated nearly one-third of the revenue at the TBTA.

The I designation was to be given to the Westway project, a 4. When the project was canceled in , the I designation was truncated to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and its approaches, making I a spur from I To avoid motorist confusion caused by a brief appearance of a new route number, we use signs indicating "TO I" for tunnel-bound traffic at West Street.

Beginning in the late s, after nearly a half-century of service, the tunnel received the first major rehabilitation in its history. The garage, which was completed when the tunnel opened in , is still owned and operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels.

The project addressed the deterioration of the roadway slab in both tubes of the tunnel. Tunnel leak repairs and wall tile replacement was also performed. Many people opposed building the bridge for fiscal reasons, mainly the expected decrease in real estate value and the subsequent loss in real estate tax.

Moses subsequently published a brochure that estimated the cost of the bridge to be 41 million dollars and the cost of the tunnel to be 84 million dollars.

The engineer, Ole Singstad, however, calculated that the tunnel would cost only 65 million dollars, and that over the next 20 years the bridge would cause a loss in real estate taxes amounting to more than 29 million dollars.

Walter Binger found that the new connections that would have to be built to the bridge would cost nearly 22 million dollars. Because Moses had amassed such power as head of the Tunnel Authority, the Parks Commission, and the Bridge Authority, it took a federal agency, the War Department, to block a bridge from being built across the Brooklyn-Battery crossing.

This was, however, the result of sophisticated preservation efforts by civic leaders to save the Battery and build the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel instead. January 25, : Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs makes his first public statement in opposition to the Bridge. April 10, : Burlingham wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in regard to supporting opposition to the Bridge.

The organization was able to rally support and membership from prestigious civic leaders, artists, architects, and other groups including the Fine Arts Federation, itself an amalgamated group of organizations. Mayor La Guardia also joined the ranks of the opposition when Isaacs revealed Moses's plan to force the City to pay 11 million dollars to build a connection between the bridge and the West Side Highway.

Yet, at a seven-hour hearing before the City Council on March 27, , Moses's plan was approved. Moses countered the opposition's fiscal and aesthetic concerns with personal attacks. Marc A. Address: Hugh L. New York In Your Inbox spinner. Thank you! You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Love New York? Get more stories delivered right to your email.