Accidents and Terrorism
In 1949, a fire aboard a chemical truck caused enormous damage to the south tube of the tunnel. The fire resulted in 66 injuries and nearly $600,000 worth of damage to the structure. In addition, two first responders, a FDNY battalion chief and a Port Authority patrolman, died as a result of injuries sustained in fighting the fire. As a result, the Port Authority adopted a strict series of rules on the transportation of hazardous materials within the tunnel.
Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the tunnel remained closed to all but emergency traffic for nearly a month. When it reopened on October 15, 2001, strict new regulations were enacted banning single-occupant vehicles and trucks from entering the tunnel. Single occupant vehicles were prohibited in the tunnel on weekday mornings between 6:00 am and 10:00 am until November 17, 2003, when the restrictions were lifted. Commercial vehicles in classes 1, 2 and 3 (two and three-axle single-unit trucks) are permitted to travel in both directions of the tunnel at all times. The ban on tractor-trailers and larger trucks in classes 4, 5 and 6 (four, five and six-axle trucks) remains in effect in both directions at all times. The ban on trailers and towed vehicles remains in effect in both directions at all times.
Cell phone service was turned off after a series of terrorist bombings occurred in London on July 7, 2005 but was reinstated a few days later.
On July 7, 2006, a plot to detonate explosives in the tunnels of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (initially said to be a plot to bomb the Holland Tunnel) was uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a later update of the source, the plot was clarified to be aimed not at the Holland Tunnel but at the PATH rail system between New York and New Jersey.
The Tunnel is considered to be one of the most high-risk terrorist target sites in the United States. Other such sites in New Jersey include the PATH station at Exchange Place (which is also in Jersey City), the Lincoln Tunnel, which connects nearby Weehawken (also in Hudson County) to Manhattan, and the Port of Newark in Elizabeth.
Read more about this topic: Holland Tunnel
Famous quotes containing the word accidents:
“Depression moods lead, almost invariably, to accidents. But, when they occur, our mood changes again, since the accident shows we can draw the world in our wake, and that we still retain some degree of power even when our spirits are low. A series of accidents creates a positively light-hearted state, out of consideration for this strange power.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)