and.

through heart of a great metropolis, those a mighty hudson river, a natural barrier between two states, a challenge to ingenuity. you and.

and. new york and new jersey created a joint, the port of new york authority. as a result of cooperation between states of britain now spans the white river the george washington bridge and beneath the river lies the holland tunnel. the busy highway in the world made more than 100 million cars driven through it in. deal, a mounting tide of traffic seeks a river crossing down manhattan's west side over new jersey. skyway skyway. a tremendous of passenger cars, trucks and, busses demands a fast route shore to shore. port authority engineers studied

traffic trends. shop upward curve mean that existing facility will soon be overcrowded and crossing is needed. to serve the congested midtown area. the lincoln tunnel is located between george washington bridge and harlem tunnel and. to keep the river clear for shipping, it was decided to build tunnel rather than a bridge. nearly 100 feet below the surface of the river. similar in design to the harlem.

its outer wall is a huge cast iron pipe 31 feet in diameter and. through it, a roadway is constructed. and, so the lincoln tunnel is started. derricks and steam shovels get underway, so they chalk the core core. build off for. they must be sharp at all times, but it is necessary to drill solid rock.

powerful compressors are installed to counteract the of water and silt. all tunneling is done in compressed air chamber. men, most important of all are, now selected to work under compressed air. a hard and dangerous job every precaution is taken to safeguard them under pressure. work is strain on heart and lung. there is danger also of contracting a known let's called the ben applicant are tested a hospital. but this sensation is similar to that of deep sea diving. he is holding his nose, blowing

through his mouth to open up passage leading from throat here, thereby equalizing the air pressure against his eardrum. this man has now passed. his test is called sand hawk and receives the compressed air workers back, which will wear at all time. and. a case our huge steel box has been fabricated in a shipyard launch load up the river and anchored ready for sinking. muck is dug until the case settles on bedrock to which it

is sealed. the case is the target card which to tunnel crude will aim as it is sunk. concrete is poured into the walls the case off and it feels gradually built up. the two rings at the top will be sunk to the bottom of the river and will part of the tunnel. meanwhile, riddle and dynamite deep land shaft sunk on both shore. and.

at the bottom of each land shaft, a huge machine weighing about 400 tons is assembled. and. this is the keel the sand hugs work chamber during the long drive under the. at the front of the shield is a shock cutting edge which bore through the riverbed much as an apple car bore through an apple.

the the shield advances through soft. but this model still is either pushed aside or swallowed up by the shield through a mouth or opening in its face. 28 you jack push the massive forward. and. let's join a crew of sand hawk as they start on the job under the river. they must stay in the airlock a few minutes until the air pressure is built up equal back in which they will. it is different when return from work. then they must gradually decompressed, which a much

longer time. this whole process is for protection of compressed air. a worker worker. inside the tunnel under compressed air while overhead all talk of river craft and great ocean liners by. ready for show. jack push against the iron tunnel ring and move the shield poleward. by ten, 15, 20, 2530 into making room a new ring of tunnels segments. mud oozes into the shield, sand

hugs cut into pieces and loaded on conveyor would carry it to the rear of the tunnel. move. more and more. tunnel segments are stored at the site of construction before being sent down into the tunnel. they are inspected and cleaned, then loaded on cars and, lowered by elevator. each segment weighs more a ton and a hot.

erector arm, grabs the heavy segment and puts in its proper place. the arm can be rotated and telescoped in and out of it and the heavy segments, like a huge mechanical hand.

each tunnel ring made up of 14 segments and the keep. as many as 18 cycles, which means 18 chugs and 18 ring have been completed in a day's work. driving through still. it takes about an hour and a half to construct one ring. the key segment makes ring complete. these husky sand hogs give both the tightening. burst with a hand ratchet.

the hydraulic tighten finishes the job job. with. in the new jersey shield. we are heading straight to the caisson at the rate of 40 feet a day because it is pouring through rock. the new york shield is heading at a slower rate. and a tunnel ring is right up against the jack at the back of the shield. here goes the next joe joe. and. to complete one tube of the

tunnel, 2370 ring are erected more than a quarter a million bolt holds the segments and together the surveyor's job is to keep the shield on the right course as it is pushed through the river that then dogs work day and building the iron tunnel shell. at this point one year work has been accomplished accomplished. rolling through the two heels, meet with in a quarter of an inch. these have something to celebrate. they are the first to travel from new jersey to new york through the lincoln tunnel.

the river still left. the tunnel during construction is cleaned. the joints tightly caulk to make the tunnel watertight. a lining of concrete poured into the iron tunnel. a roadway is built with an air passage above and below. above the railway blast tiles are installed, but the ceiling, they are placed upside down on specially prepared paper. there are nearly a million of these tiles in the tunnel ceiling and. when the tiles are, the paper is

removed. miles of gleaming white wall tile brighten the tunnel interior, the wall tile ceramic. ventilation is an important safety feature of the lincoln tunnel. the. in these buildings are whole fans and other equipment to keep the tunnel pure and healthy and eliminate dangerous. carbon monoxide gas from automobile exhaust. huge blow up and the pipe air while exhaust fan suck vitiated air out of the tunnel. and air duct carries pressure

down from the through the tunnel. then from the curb, admit air to the roadway. the arrow the tunnel can be renewed every minute and a half. for more fresh areas blown in under the roadway and rises gently. it is mixed. the gases exhausted by automobile this air and gas mixture is sucked through openings in the ceiling into an upper duct and drawn out through. in weehawken, new jersey. a great canyon was gouged out of rocky cliffs to provide a connection linking the tunnel with all the major of the area.

violin, a plaza and a new north and south avenue between, ninth and 10th avenue. provide with six cross-town streets from 34 to 40 seconds, meet and give quick access to and from the tunnel in all directions. three years and seven months. it took to complete one tube of

the lincoln tunnel. it to traffic december 22nd, 1937 through the lincoln tunnel traffic moves with speed and safety 100 feet below the river. a new link joins fates of new jersey and new york, a great engineering feat of great highway, a new conquest of.