Magnet #1179 - Lincoln and Holland tunnelsHey, did ya'll know that the Holland Tunnel (which connects downtown Manhattan to Jersey City) was supposedly the first underwater vehicular tunnel in the world when it was built back in the 1920s?
Ugh, can you even imagine slowly put-putting through the dark hole in the ground as one the first cars traveling through it?
And I didn't realize that the Lincoln Tunnel (which connects midtown Manhattan to Weehawken), was built as a WPA projects in the 1930s. Apparently, nowadays, the tunnel supposedly hosts more commuters via the bus routes into Port Authority than the trains do running into Penn. That seems weird to me, at least until you walk around the smoggy floors of the PA, waiting for the buses, that's when you believe it.
When we were little and on roadtrips, we used to love all the tunnels we'd pass through on our way to our destinations. The ones through the mountains meant we were halfway to Chicago. The ones under the Hudson meant we'd reached New York City.
And every time, my mother would yell, wake up, girls, it's the tunnel!
That's why I was excited when a friend bought me this superdupercute BNT (that's Bridge & Tunnel for the rest of America) magnet set from Fish's Eddy.
They've always held a certain fascination...as they do when you're little. Even now, as I pass through either the Lincoln or the Holland, I'm a little more alert, always looking around, watching the lights as they pass, the curves of the ceilings, the little walkways for the workmen, the lights of the cars ahead. It's still pretty cool.
The best story, though, is when we roadtripped with the BFF up to NYC, when we were in seventh grade. And we had told her all about the supercool Lincoln Tunnel, that you have to go underwater - under the Hudson River! - to get to NY. The only trouble is...we got her so excited to see the tunnel, it was a huge letdown for her when she couldn't actually see the fishes in the water.
Apparently, she was expecting a Sea World-esque see-through type tunnel. Oops!
2 comments:
Hee. Remember we used to try to hold our breath for as long as we were in a tunnel? I forget why we did that.
Hahaha, I have no idea why we used to do that. Though, we used to do it for cemeteries, too. But that was because of the old Filipino superstition of holding your breath while passing a graveyard on the way somewhere so that the dead wouldn't steal your breath.
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