The Queens–Midtown Tunnel (often referred to as the Midtown Tunnel) is a vehicular tunnel under the East River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes, each carrying two lanes. The west end of the tunnel is located on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan, while the east end of the tunnel is located in Long Island City in Queens. Interstate 495 (I-495) runs the entire length of the tunnel; I-495's western terminus is at the Manhattan portal of the tunnel.
The Queens–Midtown Tunnel was first planned in 1921, though the plans for the tunnel were modified over the following years. By the 1930s, the tunnel was being proposed as the Triborough Tunnel, which would connect Queens and Brooklyn with the east and west sides of Manhattan. The New York City Tunnel Authority finally started construction on the tunnel in 1936, although by then, the plans had been downsized to a connector between Queens and the east side of Manhattan. The tunnel, designed by Ole Singstad, was opened to traffic on November 15, 1940.
The Queens–Midtown Tunnel is owned by New York City and operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels, an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It is used by several dozen express bus routes. From 1981 to 2016, the Queens–Midtown Tunnel was also the site of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Animal Walk.
Description The Queens–Midtown Tunnel consists of two tubes that each carry two traffic lanes. The southern tube normally carries eastbound traffic to Queens, and the northern tube normally carries westbound traffic to Manhattan. During the morning rush hour, one lane in the southern tube is used as a westbound high-occupancy vehicle lane. The northern tube is slightly longer than the southern tube. This is because the tubes' portals in Queens are located side by side, while the Manhattan portals are slightly offset from each other.
Route The Queens–Midtown Tunnel's eastern end is in Long Island City, where Interstate 495 (I-495) descends from a viaduct into the tunnel. A toll plaza was formerly located here. Exits 13 and 14 for I-495 are located just east of the former toll plaza. Exit 13 is located right underneath the Pulaski Bridge and contains an eastbound-only exit and entrance to and from Borden Avenue. Exit 14, located immediately east of exit 13, contains an eastbound exit and westbound entrance to the tunnel from New York State Route 25A (21st Street). Eastbound traffic entering from Exit 13 intersects with traffic exiting to Exit 14, which must stop and yield to each other. Westbound traffic entering from Exit 14 can enter the tunnel from either 21st Street or 50th Avenue; there is no westbound exit. Although exits 13 and 14 are sequential exit numbers on I-495, they are actually the first and second numbered exits on I-495. The exits from the Manhattan side are not numbered.
The tubes travel under the East River until they are directly below 42nd Street on the Manhattan side, then curve south under First Avenue. The tubes then turn west between 36th and 37th Streets.
Both tubes surface east of Second Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The westbound roadway passes underneath Second Avenue and continues west for a half-block, where it splits into three exit ramps. One ramp continues westbound to 37th Street, while the other two connect to Tunnel Exit Street, which runs south to 34th Street and north to 41st Street. The northernmost block of Tunnel Exit Street, between 40th and 41st Streets, was sold to private interests in 1961 but continues to be in public use. The southern tube rises to ground level east of Second Avenue, where it is fed by eastbound traffic on 36th Street, as well as by entrance ramps from the north and south. These entrance ramps, collectively referred to as Tunnel Approach Street, run between Second and First Avenues from 34th Street to 40th Street. Electronic toll gantries are located just outside the Manhattan portals.
The Manhattan side was originally also supposed to link with the proposed Mid-Manhattan Expressway and the East River (FDR) Drive, though neither connection was built. Additionally, the Queens side was to have connected to an expressway that would have reached to the Rockaway Peninsula.
Route designation The tunnel was once designated as part of New York State Route 24. In the mid-1940s, NY 24 was routed to follow the Crosstown Connecting Highway and the Queens–Midtown Expressway between Queens Boulevard in Woodside, Queens, and the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. NY 24 continued through the tunnel and ended at First and Second Avenues in Manhattan, which at the time were designated as NY 1A. The Crosstown Connection Highway and the Midtown Highway were upgraded into the first portions of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) and the Queens Midtown Expressway, respectively, in the early 1950s. NY 24 was rerouted along the LIE between the Queens–Midtown Tunnel and Farmingdale, New York, in the late 1950s, and the designation was removed from the LIE altogether . The expressway and tunnel were designated as I-495 1960.
Features The two tubes were built with an exterior diameter of , a roadway wide, and a maximum vehicular height limit of . , the vehicular height limit is , and the width limit is . The portals of each tube contain flood doors weighing and measuring thick, across, and tall.
The tunnel contains two ventilation buildings, one on each side of the East River. Both ventilation towers are orange brick structures in the Art Deco style. The tower on the Manhattan side is an octagon-shaped structure located on a city-owned block bounded by 41st and 42nd Streets, First Avenue, and the FDR Drive. This block is shared with the Robert Moses Playground, a playground operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks), which was built along with the tunnel and opened in 1941. The Queens side's ventilation building is a rectangular tower located in the center of Borden Avenue between Second and Fifth Streets. Due to its location in the middle of Borden Avenue, traffic along the road drives around the building. The two buildings originally contained a combined 23 fans, which were replaced in the mid-2000s. The ventilation system is capable of completely filtering the tubes' air within 90 seconds.
The Queens portal also abuts the small Bridge and Tunnel Park, which is bounded by the Pulaski Bridge on the west, 50th Avenue on the north, 11th Place on the east, and the Queens–Midtown Tunnel entrance ramp on the south. The park opened in 1979, and is operated by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA; now MTA Bridges and Tunnels). NYC Parks owns the land that constitutes Bridge and Tunnel Park.
History
Initial proposal The Queens–Midtown Tunnel was originally proposed in 1921 by Manhattan's borough president, Julius Miller. The plan resurfaced in 1926 under the names Triborough Tunnel and alternatively 38th Street Tunnel. Miller, in conjunction with Queens' borough president, Maurice E. Connolly, proposed the $58 million tunnel as a connector from Midtown Manhattan to Long Island City in Queens, and to Greenpoint in Brooklyn. At the time, there was frequent and heavy congestion on bridges across the East River, which separated Manhattan from the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn on Long Island. Brooklyn borough president James J. Byrne expressed his displeasure at the fact that the Queens and Manhattan borough presidents had proposed the Triborough Tunnel without consulting him first. That December, Mayor James J. Walker formed a commission to study traffic congestion on New York City bridges and tunnels. Local civic groups felt that it would be inadequate to simply increase capacity on existing crossings like the Queensboro Bridge, since there were no roads connecting Long Island with Midtown Manhattan. The city ultimately declined to give its immediate support to the Triborough Tunnel proposal.
In April 1927, civic groups formed the 38th Street Tunnel Committee to advocate for the tunnel. The groups stated that the tunnel would act as a relief corridor for traffic from midtown Manhattan, which at the time had to use other crossings to the north or south. That June, the city voted to allocate $100,000 toward surveying sites and making test bores. Following news of this allotment, several more civic groups expressed support for the tunnel and urged that it be completed as soon as possible.See: By February 1929, thirty-five civic groups supported the construction of the tunnel.
Simultaneously, civic groups proposed a system of tunnels under Manhattan, connecting Queens in the east with Weehawken, New Jersey, in the west. The groups proposed that the Queens–Midtown Tunnel connect with the Midtown Hudson (Lincoln) Tunnel, which would cross the Hudson River and continue westward to New Jersey. The planned tunnel would originate at 10th Avenue on Manhattan's west side, run underneath Manhattan streets and the East River, and surface near Borden Avenue at the Long Island City side. The tunnel would contain exits to Oakland Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as well as to Third Avenue in Manhattan. The Fifth Avenue Association further proposed that the city create a bridge-and-tunnel authority to would raise funding and oversee construction and operations. The proposed agency would be similar to the Port of New York Authority, which was constructing and operating Hudson River crossings.
Approval
The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York formally endorsed a Queens–Manhattan crossing in January 1929, but stated that the crossing could be either a bridge or a tunnel. The city began conducting a study on the feasibility of constructing the Triborough Tunnel, as well as the Triborough Bridge between Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. The study's authors suggested that the city construct a network of parkways and expressways, including a major highway leading from Long Island to the Manhattan-Queens tunnel. The Queens Planning Commission also recommended the construction of the Triborough Tunnel. An official plan for the Triborough Tunnel was released that June. The plan outlined an $86 million system of feeder highways, including the crosstown Manhattan tunnel and the tunnel spur from Brooklyn. The New York City Board of Estimate approved the use of tolls for the tunnel, which would be used toward tunnel maintenance and create revenue for the city. Subsequently, officials expected that tunnel construction could start by the end of that year.
In July 1929, the city was faced with unexpected legal issues. The language of Walker's proclamation ostensibly allowed construction to proceed, but in doing so, tasked the wrong city agency with constructing the Triborough Tunnel. Civic groups convened a special session in which they asked the New York City Board of Estimate to override the laws so the tunnel could be approved. The Board of Estimate ultimately allotted $5 million toward feasibility studies and preliminary construction for the Manhattan–Queens tunnel, as well as another tunnel under the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island. Afterward, the New York City Board of Transportation hurried to submit plans for the Triborough Tunnel's construction.