#307 The Holland Tunnel: The Wonder of the Jazz Age

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EPISODE 307 The Holland Tunnel, connecting Manhattan with Jersey City beneath the Hudson River, is more important to daily life in New York City than people may at first think. Before the creation of the Holland Tunnel, commuters and travelers had painfully few options if they wanted to get to and from Manhattan. And for the city's many waterfront industries, there was mostly only one option --- barges and ferries that carried cargo across the crowded Hudson River, maneuvering through an overcrowded port system which profited from the grotesque congestion. And then along came the automobile, rapidly transforming the American way of life. How could an average motorist -- or a regular cargo truck -- get back and forth to New York City in its current chaotic state? The new tunnel envisioned by chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland would create a new pathway for motor vehicles, the first for such conveyances under the Hudson River. Yet one pressing problem stood in the way of its completion. Railways and mass transit could travel through long, underground tunnels because their tracks were electrified. But automobiles produced poisonous exhaust -- carbon monoxide -- making a contained tunnel almost 100 feet underwater a deadly proposition. The ingenious solution would ensure not only the success of the New York/New Jersey tunnel, but would change the fate of automobile transportation in the United States and around the world. PLUS: The tragic story behind the naming of the Holland Tunnel Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, listener. Before we get started, we wanted to remind you about our upcoming live show
0:07.5	on Sunday, January 26th at the Bellhouse in Gawana, Brooklyn. Part of the Brooklyn Podcast Festival.
0:14.6	Now this is a late afternoon show, 5pm, and you can drink a beer during it.
0:19.8	A beer or a white claw or a fancy cocktail or just a water.
0:23.7	Or nothing at all.
0:24.9	The name of the show, the theme of the show this year, is landmarks live.
0:30.9	Now, whatever could that mean, you're going to have to get your tickets to find out and join the party.
0:36.9	And it will be a party. So head over to the Bellhouse website. That's the bellhouseny.com to get tickets for our show on Sunday, January 26th.
0:47.9	And we'll see you there.
0:48.9	Episode 307 of the Bowry Boys. The Holland Tunnel, the engineering marvel of the Jazz Age.
0:57.9	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:59.9	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners. Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
1:12.9	Hi there. Welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.
1:15.9	And this is Tom Myers and Greg. Happy 2020.
1:19.9	Happy 2020. And as we head forward to our own roaring 20s, we're going to look back here, 100 years for this episode into the Jazz Age.
1:31.9	And in particular, looking at a great engineering achievement.
1:35.9	An achievement that for some reason we've never really tackled on the Bowry Boys. And that is the story of the Holland Tunnel.
1:44.9	Now, this is truly one of New York cities, one of America's great engineering marvels.
1:56.9	Those were crickets. Those were crickets. But then why why don't more people celebrate the creation of the Holland Tunnel?
2:04.9	Because the story is inspiring. It's got all kinds of crazy twists and turns. Although the tunnel goes pretty straight.
2:10.9	But this story has drama and people have a tendency. It seems to just sort of shrug off. The subject is like, well, you know, it's just a tunnel that's going to and from New Jersey.
2:21.9	In fact, this was true technical marvel. But perhaps we should address something up front here. Why do tunnels overall just get a bad rap?
	...

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