Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
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The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is a toll road in New York City which crosses under the East River at its mouth and connects the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, nearly passing under, but providing no access to Governors Island. It consists of twin tubes, carrying an aggregate of four traffic lanes, and at 9,117 feet (2,779 meters) is the longest underwater vehicular tunnel in North America, second only to the Transbay Tube under San Francisco Bay, and the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the world. It was opened to traffic in 1950. It currently carries the unsigned Interstate 478, and formerly carried New York State Route 27A.
The battery referred to in the tunnel's name refers to Battery Park and Castle Clinton, the former fortification at the southern tip of Manhattan.
The tunnel is owned by the City of New York and operated by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
When Robert Moses, the chairman of the Triborough Bridge Authority, assumed control of the Tunnel Authority and merged the two organizations, he attempted to scuttle the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel proposal and have a bridge built in its place. Many objected to the proposed bridge on the grounds that it would spoil the dramatic view of the Manhattan skyline and reduce Battery Park to minuscule size. Moses remained adamant, and it was only an order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, via military channels, which restored the tunnel project, on the grounds that a bridge built seaward of the Brooklyn Navy Yard would prove a hazard to national defense, in spite of the fact that the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge were already seaward of the Navy Yard. World War II halted construction of the tunnel for its duration.
As of February 22, 2006, the crossing charge for a two-axle passenger vehicle is $4.50 in each direction, with a $0.50 discount for E-ZPass users. The crossing charge for a motorcycle is $2.00 charged in each direction, with a $0.25 discount for E-ZPass users.
In the 1997 feature film Men in Black, the tunnel's Manhattan exhaust fan station is the location of the secret alien immigration terminal and the headquarters of the Men in Black.
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