The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel on Thursday was designated a New York Metropolitan Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials celebrated the commemoration with a plaque unveiling outside the tunnel's ventilation building in lower Manhattan.
The tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, has twin tubes that includes four lanes of traffic and is a vital connection between Brooklyn and Manhattan, serving more than 60,000 vehicles each weekday, including 30 different express bus routes that operate between Manhattan and Staten Island or Brooklyn, according to the MTA.
“Today’s dedication is a welcome recognition of the innovative engineering that went into construction of this tunnel, a critical link in the city’s vehicular transportation network,” said MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Catherine Sheridan. “This is a truly meaningful honor.”
The tunnel is the fourth MTA-owned property to be granted landmark status by the ASCE. The first segment of the New York City subway, which ran nine miles from City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway, was designated as a National Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1977, and the Triborough/Robert F. Kennedy Bridge Project and Grand Central Terminal were named National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks in 1986 and 2012, respectively.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the groundbreaking ceremonies for what was originally called the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel on October 28, 1940. Expected to last four years, the project took 10 years to finish due to labor and materials shortages during World War II. The tunnel opened to traffic on May 25, 1950, when the one-way toll was 35 cents. The current one-way toll is $12.03 (or $7.46 with E-ZPass).
“The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel was designed and built by past generations of civil engineers and we gratefully acknowledge their foresight and commitment to build infrastructure for our future,” said ASCE Metropolitan Section President Ivan L. Guzman. “Now the tunnel joins other great engineering marvels in our area—including the Brooklyn Bridge, the first New York City Subway, and the Statue of Liberty—that have been recognized by American Society of Civil Engineers as local, national, and international historic civil engineering landmarks. These achievements are a powerful reminder that civil engineers do not simply build structures, we build the foundation of society, connecting communities, driving economic growth, and shaping the quality of life for generations to come.”
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was the fourth major vehicular tunnel to open in New York City, following the Holland Tunnel in 1927, Lincoln Tunnel in 1937 and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in 1940.
In 2012, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was renamed in honor of former New York Governor and Congressman Hugh L. Carey, who died the year before in 2011.
The 1.7-mile tunnel remains the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the United States and the second longest in the world, behind the 14.5-mile Seikan Tunnel in Japan.
