RE: Tunnels in America and some throughout the world!
New York~circuit board
Battery Park in New York
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park,
is a 25-acre (10 ha) public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor.
It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling Green to the northeast, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west.
The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton; multiple monuments; and the SeaGlass Carousel.
The surrounding area, known as South Ferry, contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument (which includes Ellis Island and Liberty Island); and a boat launch to Governors Island.
The park and surrounding area is named for the artillery batteries that were built in the late 17th century to protect the fort and settlement behind them.
By the 1820s, the Battery had become an entertainment destination and promenade, with the conversion of Castle Clinton into a theater venue. [#YouAreWatchingASHOW]
During the mid-19th century, the modern-day Battery Park was laid out and Castle Clinton was converted into an immigration and customs center.
The Battery was commonly known as the landing point for immigrants to New York City until 1892, when the immigration center was relocated to Ellis Island in the middle of the harbor. Castle Clinton (sometimes called, Castle Garden) then hosted the New York Aquarium from 1896 to 1941.
By the 20th century, the quality of Battery Park had started to decline, and several new structures were proposed within the park, many of which were not built. In 1940,
the entirety of Battery Park was closed for twelve years due to the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and the Battery Park Underpass.
The park reopened in 1952 after a renovation, but then subsequently went into decline.
The Battery Conservancy, founded in 1994 by Warrie Price, underwrote and funded the restoration and improvement of the once-dilapidated park. In 2015, the Conservancy restored the park's historical name, "the Battery".
The area was originally occupied by the Lenape Native Americans. Dutch settlers populated the area as part of the settlement of New Amsterdam in the early 17th century.
The Dutch referred to the southern tip of Manhattan as "Capske Hook" or "Capsie Hoek", the term coming from the Lenape word "Kapsee", meaning "rocky ledge".
An artillery battery was installed at the fort in 1683 by Governor Thomas Dongan, the first of a series of batteries put in around King William's War, which gave the area its name.[
The Battery did not fire any additional shots until 1776, during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War, when American troops commandeered the fort and fired on British ships in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent them from sailing up the Hudson River.
Following the British landing at Kip's Bay on September 15, 1776, the Americans had abandoned the fort, and the British took Lower Manhattan.
At the end of the war in 1783, the Battery was the center of Evacuation Day celebrations commemorating the departure of the last British troops in the United States; the event was later commemorated with the erection of a flagstaff.
he fort itself became the site of Government House, an executive mansion intended for U.S. president George Washington, though never actually used for that purpose.[
When Battery Park's landmass was created, it encircled and incorporated the island.
About 3 acres (1.2 ha) were added to the park area in 1824.
Meanwhile, Castle Clinton was turned over to the city government, which turned the structure into an entertainment venue.
Many modes of transportation both above ground and underground surround Battery Park.
In 1940, Battery Park was partially closed for the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, and the aquarium was shuttered.
Subsequently, several plans to modify Battery Park were proposed.
A design competition to rebuild Battery Park was hosted in 1941.
The nonprofit Battery Conservancy was created in 1994, and one of its first actions was to create an architectural plan for the park, and renovating it for $30 million.
In 1998, the administration of mayor Rudy Giuliani announced a $40 million initiative to renovate Battery Park.
The restoration project, based on similar successful projects at Bryant and Central Parks, called for the relocation of the Battery's 23 statues, as well as an expansion of Castle Clinton.
Much of the funding was to be raised privately, and at the time, this was thought to be a minor obstacle since Battery Park was neither as high-profile as Central Park, nor as worn-down as Bryant Park.
One of the first renovation projects to commence was the reconstruction of the park's seawall and promenade at a cost of $5.5 million.
Although Battery Park was used as an emergency staging site following the September 11 attacks in 2001,
construction on the upper promenade continued largely uninterrupted, and it opened in December 2001.
Sea Glass Carousel at Battery Park
The carousel is designed to resemble an under-the-sea garden through which visitors ride on fish that appear to be made of sea glass and shimmer as though they were bioluminescent.
The carousel features seating on species such as a Siamese fighting fish.
The operating machinery is under the floor, so there is no post in the center of the ride.
What lies beneath.
Two road tunnels and several rail tunnels run under Battery Park. The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, opened 1950 carries vehicular traffic to Brooklyn.
The Battery Park Underpass, opened 1951, carries vehicular traffic from the West Side Highway to the FDR Drive.
Several New York City Subway tunnels also run under the Battery.
The old South Ferry station, opened 1905 as part of the city's first subway line,
the former Interborough Rapid Transit Company's Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue Lines have a balloon loop to enable trains to turn around and switch between the two lines.
It closed in 2009 following the opening of a replacement subway station.