Description
Begun in 1920 and completed in 1927, the tunnel is named after Clifford Milburn Holland (1883–1924), Chief Engineer on the project, who died before it was completed. Tunnel designer Ole Singstad finished Holland's work. The tunnel is one of the earliest examples of a mechanically ventilated design. 84 fans, in four ventilation buildings, create a floor to ceiling air flow across the roadway at regular intervals, via systems of ducts beneath and above the roadway. The fans can completely change the air inside the tunnel every 90 seconds. A forced ventilation system is essential because of the poisonous carbon monoxide component of automobile exhaust, which constituted a far greater percentage of exhaust gasses before catalytic converters became prevalent.
The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes, each providing two lanes in a 20-foot (6 m) roadway width and 12.5 feet (3.8 m) of headroom. The north tube is 8,558 feet (2,608 m) from end to end, while the south tube is slightly shorter at 8,371 feet (2,551 m). Both tubes are situated in the bedrock beneath the river, with the lowest point of the roadway approximately 93 feet (28 m) below mean high water.
The amount of traffic at the Holland Tunnel has remained steady despite tight restrictions on eastbound traffic in response to the September 11 attacks, including a ban on commercial traffic entering New York City put in place after an August 2004 threat. The tunnel was used by 34,698,000 vehicles in 2007, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state government agency that owns and operates the Holland Tunnel. That is slightly less than the 34,729,385 vehicles seen in 2006, but up from the 33,964,000 vehicles in 2005.
The tunnel was designated a National Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1982 and a National Historic Landmark in 1993.
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