Revival of a Bold idea: A B'klyn-Island Tunnel
Councilman proposes idea that surfaced first in 1912, then slowly died

Staten Island Advance - Saturday, October 27, 2007

"Congestion is a regional problem and requires a regional solution," said Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), explaining yesterday the plan he will propose next Thursday in Brooklyn prior to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's hearing on congestion pricing for Manhattan.

The Staten Island hearing will be held Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. in the Williamson Theatre, Center for The Arts on the College of Staten Island campus in Willowbrook.

Fidler revealed that his proposed tunnel -- an idea that was first pitched in 1912 by George Cromwell, then-borough president of Staten Island -- would begin at the Staten Island Railway hub in the St. George Ferry Terminal, travel under the New York Harbor, and connect near the 65th Street stop in Brooklyn, part of the 4th Avenue line.

"In order to get off Staten Island, residents have to use one fossil-fueled vehicle or another -- car or bus," said Fidler, referring to commuting over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. "It's ridiculous that the fastest-growing borough has no access to the rest of the city."

Along with the Staten Island tunnel, Fidler's ambitious nine-point plan also includes sinking Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway underground, and creating the long-discussed Cross Harbor Tunnel.

"The Gowanus is one of the country's worst roads," said Fidler, noting that his plan would open up western Brooklyn and create space for parkland.

Fidler's Island tunnel plan received a thumbs up from City Council colleague James Oddo.

"I'm not sure if it's feasible but I certainly think it's worth exploring," said Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn).

Earlier in the day Oddo and other politicians held a press conference on the Fingerboard Road overpass in Grasmere, highlighting the onset of traffic problems due to ongoing construction on the Verrazano. "Anyone who's not a fan [of Fidler's tunnel proposal] needs to sit on an express bus for two-and-a-half hours on the Gowanus, then they might have a different perspective."

Fidler said that perhaps another leg of the Staten Island tunnel could meet up with part of the sunken Gowanus Expressway.

Construction on a subway tunnel to Brooklyn never went beyond the 1923 groundbreaking ceremonies for the then-proposed Brooklyn-Richmond Freight and Passenger Tunnel.

Albany had ordered the construction of the tunnel two years prior, with the total cost was assessed at $60 million.

The Narrows Tube would have sent people and cargo across the harbor from St. George to Bay Ridge.

The proposed two-mile underwater tunnel section would have been the longest in the world when completed in 1929.

However construction stopped in 1924 and, although it's been occasionally mentioned in city infrastructure discussions since, the plan has never come to fruition, although construction was briefly revived in the late 1930s.

As for the Cross Harbor Tunnel, Fidler estimated the construction costs at about $6 billion but said the rewards would be great -- connecting the city to the U.S. freight rail system, which currently stops in New Jersey, and getting close to one million tractor-trailers off city roads every year.

Bloomberg previously opposed the Cross Harbor Tunnel during his 2005 re-election campaign. 
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By Doug Auer
Reprinted here with permission from the