63rd Street Tunnel
The 63rd Street Tunnel, in the context of the East Side Access project
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | 63rd Street Line (F train) |
| Location | East River between Manhattan and Queens, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°45′36″N 73°57′18″W / 40.76000°N 73.95500°WCoordinates: 40°45′36″N 73°57′18″W / 40.76000°N 73.95500°W |
| System |
New York City Subway LIRR (future) |
| Operation | |
| Opened | October 29, 1989 |
| Operator | Metropolitan Transportation Authority |
| Technical | |
| Length | 3,140 feet (960 m) between shafts |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Width | 38.5 feet (11.7 m) |
The 63rd Street Tunnel carries the 63rd Street Line of the New York City Subway under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. As of 2017[update], it is the newest of the East River tunnels, and the newest river crossing in the New York metropolitan area. Construction of the 63rd Street Tunnel began on November 24, 1969, and the tunnel was holed through beneath Roosevelt Island on October 10, 1972. However, completion of the tunnel and its connections was delayed by New York City's fiscal crisis of the 1970s and it was not used in revenue service until 1989.
The tunnel's lower level will carry Long Island Rail Road trains following the expected completion of the East Side Access project in late-2022, a half-century after the hole through.
The tunnel was first placed into partial service in 1989 and was nicknamed the "tunnel to nowhere" due to its lack of connections in Queens. The final section of the 63rd Street Tunnel, which cost $645 million to complete and connects what had been a service dead-ending at the 21st Street station in Queensbridge to the IND Queens Boulevard Line, was finished in 2000. It was first used by trains during off-peak hours while signal work was performed in the 53rd Street Tunnel. The tunnel connection was placed into permanent service with the start of V train and the shifting of the route of the F train on December 17, 2001.
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