Tunnels

NYC Mayor John Hylan and the Fight to Create the Port Authority

December 28, 2025 by Randall Whitestone 2 Comments

As Rick Cotton retires as the latest in a long line of executive directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, it’s worth thinking about the original, lurching journey to create the agency a century ago.

The Port Authority, which last year recorded gross operating revenues of almost $7 billion on assets of more than $63 billion, oversees many of New York City’s bridges, tunnels, marine terminals, and airports and a 1,500-square-mile port district. It was created in 1921 via a two-state compact ratified by Congress. That launch had not been assured, nor was getting there smooth. [Read more…] about NYC Mayor John Hylan and the Fight to Create the Port Authority

‘Diamond Reef is No More’: Clearing New York City’s Harbor Reefs

November 5, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

What follows is a article first published in Scientific American, December 23, 1871. The removal of obstructive rocks from the narrow East River strait of Hell Gate began in 1849 and was accelerated in 1851 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led by General John Newton began a blasting and dredging operation which lasted 70 years.

We give this week some engravings illustrating the operations now in progress for the removal of the obstructions at Hallett’s Point, East River. Having often referred to this great work, our present notice will be rather historical and general than technical. [Read more…] about ‘Diamond Reef is No More’: Clearing New York City’s Harbor Reefs

The Impacts of ‘Superstorm Sandy’

October 31, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

One of the most extreme examples highlighted in the New York State Comptroller’s recent report on the increase of severe weather, was the October 29, 2012 landfall of Hurricane Sandy.

Sandy is an example of how the impacts of climate change act as “threat magnifiers,” and in the case of Sandy produce unprecedented damage to infrastructure and economic disruption. [Read more…] about The Impacts of ‘Superstorm Sandy’

NY Severe Weather Events Increasing, Costs Soaring

October 30, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

A new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found the frequency of severe weather in the state is growing, taking a toll on New York’s residents, property and economy.

“Extreme weather events are happening more and more often and inflicting financial and emotional stress on New Yorkers from loss of life to property destruction,” DiNapoli said. [Read more…] about NY Severe Weather Events Increasing, Costs Soaring

The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

June 9, 2025 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

The construction and development of the Delaware and Hudson Canal led to the creation of one of the Hudson Valley’s greatest manufacturing industries in the 19th century — that of the famous Rosendale cement. For a time considered the best cement manufactured in this country it and at the turn of the 20th century was the source of half of America’s production of natural cement.

Ulster County cement was used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge; the Croton Aqueduct, which supplied New York City with water; the dry-dock of the Brooklyn Navy Yard; hundreds of New York City’s largest buildings; and the principal construction projects of the Hudson River Railroad among many other places. [Read more…] about The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

Photographs of New York’s Hidden Water System

March 13, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New Yorkers typically take their water for granted; they turn on the tap and it’s there. Yet New York City’s faucets are endpoints in a journey through a vast, sophisticated, and visually humbling infrastructure of aqueducts, tunnels, water mains, pipes, pumping stations, treatment plants, reservoirs, gatehouses and more. [Read more…] about Photographs of New York’s Hidden Water System

Manhattan’s Congestion Pricing Now in Effect

January 6, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Starting on January 5, 2025, vehicles entering Manhattan‘s Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ), will be charged a toll in an effort to encourage commuters to use rapid transit instead. The disincentivizing fee, intended to cut down on traffic congestion and pollution, was first proposed in 2007 and included in the 2019 New York State government budget by the New York State Legislature. [Read more…] about Manhattan’s Congestion Pricing Now in Effect

Governor Kathy Hochul Vetoes Safe Wildlife Crossings Act

November 26, 2024 by Editorial Staff 5 Comments

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has vetoed the Safe Wildlife Crossings Act, a bill designed to make highways safer for motorists and wildlife with purpose-built crossings in the New York’s North Country. The bill would have required the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) and the NYS Thruway Authority to conduct studies to determine the most hazardous areas of highways for vehicle-animal collisions and develop a plan to reduce those hazards. [Read more…] about Governor Kathy Hochul Vetoes Safe Wildlife Crossings Act

Tunnel Engineer Charles Watson Murdock

September 29, 2024 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

By most accounts, the Lincoln Tunnel is the world’s busiest vehicular tunnel (the type used by cars and trucks). It actually consists of three levels in a tube, and accommodates about 43 million vehicles per year, or about 120,000 per day.

It was opened in 1937, ten years after the Holland Tunnel (about three miles south) began handling traffic, and a Northern New York man was instrumental to the success of both tunnel systems. [Read more…] about Tunnel Engineer Charles Watson Murdock

What Happened to Renovating Penn Station?

August 20, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Historic preservation advocates say yesterday’s Crain’s New York Business question, “What Happened to Renovating Penn Station?,” deserves an answer. It’s been more than a year since New York State Governor Kathy Hochul offered public comments on Penn Station and said she would welcome private development proposals. [Read more…] about What Happened to Renovating Penn Station?

Preservationists: Plans for Penn Station Deserve Independent Review

August 10, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Amtrak made a public presentation yesterday on plans for expanding rail capacity at Penn Station. Amtrak consultants said they need to increase the hourly number of trains from New Jersey and plan a new multi-billion dollar underground station for New Jersey Transit. That would most likely require demolishing a block south of Penn that contains affordable homes and landmark quality buildings. [Read more…] about Preservationists: Plans for Penn Station Deserve Independent Review

NYS Legislature Passes New York Wildlife Crossings Act

May 14, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The State Assembly and State Senate have both acted to pass the New York Wildlife Crossings Act, which was sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Member Robert Carroll. The bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to assess roadways “in the state for potential wildlife crossings to improve wildlife habitat connectivity, reduce wildlife vehicle collisions, and increase public safety for New York motorists.” [Read more…] about NYS Legislature Passes New York Wildlife Crossings Act

Repair of Delaware Aqueduct, World’s Longest Tunnel; First Under Hudson River Since 1957

February 24, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Construction on the Delaware Aqueduct was begun in 1939 and it was put into service in 1944 when New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened a set of emergency gates to channel Rondout Creek into the newly constructed 85-mile-long water system.

Since then, the Aqueduct has delivered about half of New York City’s water supply — typically about 600 million gallons a day — using only gravity to carry the water from four reservoirs in the eastern Catskills. [Read more…] about Repair of Delaware Aqueduct, World’s Longest Tunnel; First Under Hudson River Since 1957

Kathleen Hulser: Hurricane Sandy And The NYC Waterfront

November 2, 2012 by Kathleen Hulser 3 Comments

As New Yorkers still struggle without power in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, it plunges us right into the heart of a discussion about the historic waterfront. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Vision for the 21st Century, proclaimed in 2002, the crumbling infrastructure along the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfront that once served the port of New York should be harnessed for a variety of development schemes. [Read more…] about Kathleen Hulser: Hurricane Sandy And The NYC Waterfront

The 1902 Park Avenue Tunnel Collision Online

January 5, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

This Sunday marks the anniversary of a largely forgotten piece of New York history. On January 8, 1902, there was a train collision in the train tunnels of New York City. As a result of this disaster, laws were passed in NY which banned steam engines from entering Manhattan and forced the train companies to look into designing electric rails for their commuter trains. To accommodate electric rails, the old Grand Central Depot was torn down and the new and larger Grand Central Station was built, which changed the landscape of NYC forever.

Researcher Cathy Horn has been building an online memorial to the event which includes lists of those involved (including some short biographies), photos, documents, and newspaper clippings from the event.

Historian: America’s First Railroad Tunnel Located

August 14, 2008 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Incredible news from the Schenectady Gazette this morning. Schenectady City Historian Don Rittner has apparently found the first railroad tunnel ever constructed, buried in the historic Schenectady Stockade District. The find includes a section of the original tracks:

“The 15-foot-deep tunnel snakes its way across what are now a dozen or more private backyards. But in 1832, that land was a major thoroughfare — the foundation of the city’s prosperity and growth for the next century.
“Hundreds of business owners and daring families rode through the tunnel on trains so experimental that they were considered too dangerous to be allowed on city streets. They could travel so fast and their engines could produce so many wild sparks that city leaders feared pedestrians would be run over and buildings burned down.
“So horses dragged the trains from the Erie Canal to the Scotia bridge along a safe, deep tunnel. It was an experiment that lasted just six years, but in that time it was guaranteed a place in the history books. Not only was the tunnel the first ever constructed for a locomotive, but the entrance was the first junction of two railroad companies, according to Rittner.”

Technically, the first railroad in the United States is believed to have been a gravity railroad in Lewiston, New York in 1764. The Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, of which the tunnel would have been a part, was the first modern-style railroad built in the State of New York; it was incorporated in 1826 by the Mohawk and Hudson Company and opened August 9, 1831.

On April 19, 1847, the name was changed to the Albany and Schenectady Railroad. The railroad was consolidated into the New York Central Railroad on May 17, 1853. In 1867, the first elevated railroad was built in New York.

Tunnels

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