Holland Tunnel Entrance Closes, Students Face Delays

By NICOLE MUSA
July 12, 2011

Published: October 5, 2010

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey announced on Sept. 19 that there will be restricted entrance to the Holland Tunnel caused by the installation of an essential water main. Roughly half of Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) student body is comprised of commuters, leaving New Jersey commuter students susceptible to possible travel delays.

Although there are many New Jersey commuters who travel to the Lincoln Center campus on a daily basis, the project at Hudson Street will affect them on a minor scale, if at all. Commuters at FCLC who use the Holland Tunnel can expect minor delays until the project’s termination. According to Port Authority, “there will be no access to the Holland Tunnel from Hudson Street (at Canal Street) for the duration of the project.” This will force New Jersey-bound motorists to enter the tunnel at either Canal or Church Street instead.

“I will not be directly affected by the Holland Tunnel closing because I take a bus in from Cliffside Park, NJ, which happens to access Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel,” Tatiana Popovitchenko, FCLC ’12, said. “My worries about this news are that motorists will be forced to take the Lincoln Tunnel due to overcrowding at the Holland Tunnel.”

Angelica Jacinto, FCLC ’13, also commutes by bus to Port Authority through the Lincoln Tunnel and said she thinks traffic may increase because of the changes at Hudson Street. “I think that more people will use the Lincoln Tunnel as an alternative route to the Holland Tunnel, so that would mean more traffic and congestion on my daily route,” she said. “If that is the case, I’d probably have to start leaving my house a little earlier than I usually do.”

FCLC professors who commute from New Jersey face similar concerns regarding their daily commute to campus. “The construction project at Hudson Street will not affect me personally because I take an New Jersey Transit train into the city, but it will affect drivers, undoubtedly,” James Fisher, professor of theology, said. “With only two tunnel entrances into Manhattan, one is bound to really ja m up if the other is partially closed.”

FCLC’s Commuting Students Association (CSA) plans on addressing the issue. “We will plan all Lincoln Center CSA events at convenient times so that our New Jersey students may still attend all of our programming, if they are indeed affected by the Holland Tunnel construction,” Amelia Zaino, FCLC ’12 and CSA president, said.

Work on the project will be done Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on periodic weekends when necessary. The New York City Department of Design and Construction said the project’s duration is expected to be five years, with completion in late 2015.