New York City Water Tunnel No. 3

3 is a water-supply tunnel forming part of the New York City water supply system.

[4][5] The complete tunnel will be more than 60 miles (97 km) long, travel 500 feet (150 m) below street level in sections, and will cost over $6 billion.

[3][7] This first section was bored through bedrock between 250 and 800 feet (76 and 244 m) underground, using drilling and blasting techniques.

[7] Section one is 13 miles (21 km) long and starts at Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers, New York then crosses under Central Park in Manhattan, to reach Fifth Avenue at 78th Street.

It will be 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter, running from the Kensico Reservoir in Westchester to the Van Cortlandt Valve Chamber complex in the Bronx.

Additional, though smaller, valve chambers are in use under Central Park at 79th Street, under Roosevelt Island, and in Jackson Heights.

Since 1970, when construction on the tunnel began, twenty-four people have died in construction-related accidents.

[2] In 2002, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg made completion of the tunnel a priority, and set a goal date of 2021.

[6] A New York Times report in 2016 stated that mayor Bill de Blasio was postponing completion of the project indefinitely,[1] but he subsequently stated that this was a miscommunication between his press office and the Times, and that the completion date was actually being pushed up to 2020.

[16] In September 2022 NYCDEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala stated that following the construction of the two deep riser shafts in Brooklyn and Queens, the Tunnel No.