More than a decade after Hurricane Sandy flooded it with 30 million gallons of brackish water, the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River is receiving a makeover that will redirect traffic leaving New York City for almost three years. During this time, the Holland Tunnel will be closed.
On Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that beginning on February 5, it will begin closing the northbound New Jersey tube of the tunnel for six nights each week. The Port Authority has said that the closures of the airport throughout the night would continue until 2025.
When leaving Manhattan between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday evenings and between 11:59 p.m. and 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday mornings, motorists will be required to use an alternate route. At the tunnel that is 95 years old, a similar schedule of nighttime closures has been in effect beginning in April 2020 for traffic headed toward New York. The completion of this work is anticipated on the 4th of February.
Drivers who are going in the direction of New Jersey will be required to use an alternate route, which may include the George Washington Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel, both of which are controlled by the Port Authority. One option for public transportation is the PATH rail, which is operated by the Port Authority.
Workers will carry out substantial repairs to components that were damaged by water produced by the storm in 2012 while the tunnel is closed to traffic. This will take place when the tunnel is closed. The Port Authority, which is the owner of the 1.6-mile-long tunnel, said that the work will entail repairing or rebuilding the mechanical, electrical, communications, and plumbing systems that were damaged by salt that was left over from the floods.
In addition, a great deal of the architectural and structural components of the tunnel’s infrastructure will be fixed. According to the agency, these components include fire detection and suppression systems, safety walks and walls, curb drainage, structural steel, wall tiles, granite block retaining walls, pump rooms, exhaust ducts, cables, and safety walks and walls.
On January 1, the Port Authority increased the tolls at the Holland and five other crossings between New Jersey and the city. The authority anticipated that the cost of renovating the tunnel would be $364 million. The whole price of the toll, which was formerly $16, is now $17 per vehicle.
Sandy caused comparable damage to a railroad tunnel that is 112 years old and is located under the Hudson River. Amtrak, the company that owns the tunnel, has been warning the public for years that the floods would ultimately cause the tunnel to become unworkable due to residual corrosion. One of the goals of the current project, which is to construct a rail tunnel under the river and is being referred to as the Gateway project, is to provide an alternate route for trains before Amtrak closes one of the existing rail tubes for rehabilitation. The project is expected to cost $16.1 billion.