[1] The tunnel was built under the oversight of engineer James P. Kirkwood and was started in 1856 and opened in 1861,[2] costing 57 lives to build.
Eight shafts, 70–90 feet (21–27 m) in depth were sunk down from atop the Palisades to reach the tunnel.
The northwestern portal is just northwest of where Kennedy Boulevard passes over New Jersey State Route 139.
The southeastern portal is near State Route 139 between where it intersects Palisade Avenue and passes over Interstate 78.
Part of the viaduct which carried trains to the yards and the terminals is parallel to Boyle Plaza (the entrance and exit roads for the Holland Tunnel) and now serves as an access road to Newport as the current 11th Street.
Eastern portal above which are three engraved stones. The first lists the officers and engineers of the company. The seconds reads "Long Dock Company founded 1856". The third reads "Bergen Tunnel completed 1861".
Western portal above which is "Erie", the name of the railroad that owned the tunnel. To the south was the 1910 Erie Cut which traveled under the
Bergen Arches
.
The busiest tunnel point in the world in 1911, six Erie Railroad tracks below four Lackawanna tracks all emerging from tunnels under Bergen Hill
A 2005 map of the active railroads of northern
Hudson County
. The Long Dock Tunnel is the part of the blue line marked Conrail
National Docks Branch
which runs between the tunnel portal just east of the West End Junction (bottom center) and the tunnel portal just west of the connection with the
Conrail River Line
stub.
