![Photo taken circa 1899 by someone unknown](https://cdn.viewing.nyc/assets/media/cdd41cd82abcfb9227d7aa9e8680bb69/elements/581ea4b9bcea37fa10132ba885682b5e/xl/a82f0f7d-b3d1-4afd-b178-2872e4f50cae_2x.jpg)
The Park Avenue Tunnel is a 1,600-foot-long tunnel that runs between 33rd and 40th Streets on - you guessed it - Park Avenue. It was constructed in 1834, though at that time the tunnel was merely a cutout in the road with an open top.
Today the Park Avenue Tunnel, running between 33rd and 40th Streets is a passage for cars, but before it was a roadway for motor vehicles, it was a train and trolley tunnel. Constructed in 1834, it was originally built for the New York & Harlem Railroad (NY&H) as an open cut, which ran steam engines as well as horsecars. In the 1850s, the open cut was bridged creating a tunnel to boost public safety by removing the train from Manhattan’s surface. The Park Avenue Tunnel became of the city’s oldest, accommodating trolley trucks and two-way traffic.
Our friends at Untapped Cities recently published this great vintage photo of the tunnel from around 1899, showing a time when it was still used fro trollies and trains.
via Untapped Cities
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