![]() ![]() Construction Ĭonstruction on the project began on November 24, 1969. Among many other projects, the proposal included the construction of the 63rd Street Tunnel to host a proposed 63rd Street–Southeast Queens subway line on the upper level (connecting to a "super-express" line and the Archer Avenue lines in Queens), and an LIRR branch traveling to a new railroad terminal in Manhattan on the lower level. ![]() In November 1967, voters approved a $2.5 billion transportation bond issue, and in early 1968, under the Program for Action, officials provided detailed plans for how it would be used. This amendment increased the number of LIRR tracks to two, and provided dedicated tracks for the LIRR and the subway. That August, a fourth track was added to the plans after it was determined that LIRR trains would be too large to run on subway tracks. The track would serve Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains to east Midtown, alleviating train traffic into Pennsylvania Station. Ī third track was added to the plans for the tunnel in April 1966. The route was changed to 63rd Street because officials at Rockefeller Institute at 64th Street feared that vibrations from heavy construction and train movements might interfere with the Institute's delicate instruments and the research being conducted. The 64th Street site was said to be $5.3 million less expensive, "because of easier grades and smaller curves". Several months later, on October 17, the Board of Estimate approved a new East River tunnel sited at 64th Street, noting that it would cost $30 million and take seven years to build. On May 24, Mayor Wagner suggested that a tunnel around 61st Street "be built with all deliberate speed". ![]() The proposed site of the tunnel was switched to 59th Street on a May 2, 1963, report. In February 1963, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) proposed a two-track East River subway tunnel under 76th Street with unspecified connections to the rest of the transit network, at a cost of $139 million. During construction, the lower level was used to move materials between the work sites in Manhattan and staging areas in Queens. Construction on the East Side Access project, which uses the lower level, started in 2006 the lower level opened on January 25, 2023. The tunnel was long referred to as the "tunnel to nowhere" because its Queens end did not connect to any other subway line until 2001. The lower level was not opened at that time because of the cancellation of the LIRR route to Manhattan. The upper level was opened in 1989, twenty years after construction started. The tunnel was holed through beneath Roosevelt Island in 1972, but completion of the tunnel and its connections was delayed by the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. The lower level carries Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains to Grand Central as part of the East Side Access project.Ĭonstruction of the 63rd Street Tunnel began in 1969. The upper level of the 63rd Street Tunnel carries the IND 63rd Street Line of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1989, it is the newest of the East River tunnels, as well as the newest rail river crossing in the New York metropolitan area. The 63rd Street Tunnel is a double-deck subway and railroad tunnel under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens in New York City. January 25, 2023 4 months ago ( ) (lower level) October 29, 1989 33 years ago ( ) (upper level) ![]()
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