New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel has been designated a New York Metropolitan Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

A plaque, which has been installed outside the tunnel ventilation building on the Manhattan side, reads:  

“This 9,117-foot-long tunnel under the East River is a key transportation link in New York City. Designed by Chief Engineer Ole Singstad, it opened in 1950 as the world's longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel. The tunnel was constructed using cut-and-cover and shield-driven methods and also used an innovative system of radial wells for dewatering near its Brooklyn portal.”

“Today’s dedication is a welcome recognition of the innovative engineering that went into the construction of this tunnel, a critical link in the City’s vehicular transportation network,” said MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Catherine Sheridan.  

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel

The Hugh L. Carey 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. The Triborough/Robert F. Kennedy Bridge Project and Grand Central Terminal were named National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks in 1986 and 2012, respectively. 

The tunnel’s twin tubes carry a total of four lanes of traffic. They are 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.  

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 complete due to labor and material 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 Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was the fourth major vehicular tunnel to open in New York City, following the Holland Tunnel in 1927, the 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 in 2011.  

 The 1.7-mile Hugh L. Carey Tunnel remains the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the US and the second longest in the world, behind the 14.5-mile Seikan Tunnel in Japan.