Updated 11/15/2010 02:48 PM
Queens Midtown Tunnel Marks 70th Birthday
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A milestone for the Queens Midtown Tunnel, as the crossing turns 70 years old Monday.
It took 20 years of lobbying and planning and four years of construction before the tunnel linking Queens with Manhattan finally opened on November 15, 1940.
The tunnel cost $58 million to build.
At the time, it was the largest, non-federal public works project in the nation. In its first full year of operation, 4.5-million vehicles used the tunnel.
Nearly 28-million vehicles used it last year.
The MTA has a collection of historic photographs from the construction of the tunnel on display in the lobby of its Lower Manhattan offices through the end of the month.