Tunnel Talk

Robert W. Jackson, “Highway Under the Hudson”

May 20, 2012

As you’re sitting in traffic waiting to enter the Holland Tunnel, ponder the fact that passenger cars weren’t even a primary reason for building the tunnel. In the first two decades of the 20th century, automobiles were called “pleasure” vehicles, toys of the very wealthy. The tunnel was proposed originally as a solution to a freight transportation crisis, precipitated by a series of bad winters when the river either froze over or marine unions went on strike.

Manhattan was growing by leaps and bounds, and the city’s demand for food and coal seemed insatiable. These goods poured into Jersey City and Hoboken where major rail lines terminated, but the only way to get them to Manhattan and Brooklyn was by barge, railcar float or lighters (boats for light freight). If ice or a strike made the river impassable, food would pile up and spoil, and on the New York side, people suffered. Shippers and local businesses were desperate to for a reliable transportation option.

Historian and urban planner Robert W. Jackson, author of Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel (New York University Press, 2011) will visit the Museum on Sunday, May 20, at 4 p.m., to paint a vivid picture of the way the project came together and adapted to the rapidly changing times. He will also share his in-depth research into the conditions under which the “sandhogs” worked, which were fraught with risk and helped lead to stronger federal oversight of workplace safety. An urban planner with experience in traffic planning, Jackson will also discuss the reasons the original plan ignored the traffic impact on the Jersey side of the river, and how quickly it adapted to meet those demands.