Why New York's First River Tunnel is Falling Apart (The Story of The Hudson Tunnel)

The Hudson Tunnel is absolutely massive and was the first large-scale tunneling project under a prominent American river. Originally intended to be the first trans-river rail link between Jersey City and Manhattan, the tunnel took more than 30 years to complete. The history of the tunnel is a fascinating example of early Gilded Age engineering technology and is considered a notable engineering achievement. Today we will discover the story of the Hudson Tunnel and how it came to be!

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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

Chapters:

00:00 The Hudson Tunnel is the first trans-river rail link between Jersey City and Manhattan.
00:40 Why The Hudson River divides New Jersey from New York state.
01:14 Colonel De Witt Clinton conceived the idea to construct a tunnel under the Hudson River.
02:11 Clinton insisted that excavating the Hudson tunnel should be in a compressed air environment
04:08 Construction of the Hudson tunnel began on November 17, 1874, with the sinking of a shaft on Fifteenth Street in Jersey City.
05:39 A Hudson Tunnel blowout on July 21, 1880. A leak developed on top of the tunnel.
06:02 General William Smith joined the Hudson Tunnel project as chief engineer and introduced several improvements.
07:00 The Hudson tunnel's Trevor Park died and finances diminished.
07:46 Technical knowledge and expertise were sought out by British consulting engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker.
09:09 Why English engineer Charles Mattathias Jacobs was invited to assess the practicality and cost of completing the hudson tunnels.
10:14 The north tunnel was holed through on March 11, 1904, and the south tunnel was holed through on September 29, 1905.
10:44 What were the first trains to run through the Hudson River Tunnel?
11:25 The idea for the second set of tunnels was derived from a study of ferry traffic.
12:12 Service on the Downtown Tunnels began.
12:37 The popularity of the automobile skyrocketed. Road traffic was significantly increasing.
13:56 the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company declared bankruptcy
15:00 the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Tunnel was nominated to be a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
16:15 The revival of the Hudson. The tunnels were flooded during Hurricane Sandy, which prompted the creation of The Hudson Tunnel Project.
17:59 Closing: With over 30 years of development and several years of operation, the Hudson Tunnel still stands.

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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Camrin Dekis,
Editor - Nina Wade
Host - Ryan Socash

» SOURCES
Hudson River Tunnel. Engineering Timelines - Hudson River Tunnel. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1348#:~:text=The%20Hudson%20River%20Tunnel%20was,than%2030%20years%20to%20complete.

Committees. ASCE Metropolitan Section. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.ascemetsection.org/committees/history-and-heritage/landmarks/hudson-manhattan-tunnel

Staff. (2015, July 7). The light at the end of the Hudson Tunnels. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://blog.nyhistory.org/the-light-at-the-end-of-the-hudson-tunnels/

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Tunnel. ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/hudson-and-manhattan-railroad-tunnel

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Holland Tunnel. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holland-Tunnel

History of the Holland Tunnel. History. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/holland-tunnel/history.html

Plaza College . (2011, December 2). History and facts about the Holland Tunnel. Plaza College. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from http://www.plazacollege.edu/history-and-facts-about-the-holland-tunnel/

Committees- Holland Tunnel. ASCE Metropolitan Section. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.ascemetsection.org/committees/history-and-heritage/landmarks/holland-tunnel

Lincoln Tunnel. Visit the main page. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lincoln_Tunnel

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Lincoln Tunnel. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lincoln-Tunnel

» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.