November 13 The Holland Tunnel Opens

On this day in Labor History the year was 1927.  

That was the day that the Holland Tunnel, connecting New York City and New Jersey, opened for traffic. 

Before the tunnel, the only way to cross the Hudson River from the city to New Jersey was by ferry. 

City officials decided to build a tunnel to alleviate congestion—but they had a problem. 

All those cars driving underground would cause a potentially deadly build-up of carbon monoxide. 

There had to be a way to ventilate the tunnel. 

Engineer Clifford Holland came up with the solution. 

Big fans located at each end of the tunnel could draw fresh air into the passage.  The giant fans were nearly as tall as a ten-story building. 

In honor of his engineering work, the tunnel was named after Holland, but he did not live to see the completion of his vision. 

The tunnel also owes its existence to unionized labor. 

The workers who performed the backbreaking work of digging New York’s vehicle and subway tunnels called themselves the “sandhogs.”  

In a 1983 book about the union written by Paul Delaney, a worker recounted his memories of the Holland project saying quote, “The turnover in workers was unbelievable.  Men would work an hour or maybe a shift, and they’d never be seen on the job again.  Even the strongest men were tired after fifteen or twenty minutes in the air.  And there as always the worry of being fired.  If a man went for more than two sips of water during a shift, he was told to collect his wages and go home.”

Fourteen workers died on the project. 

More than a billion cars have made the trip under the Hudson since it first opened.