The Tunnel That Connects New York City and Weehawken New Jersey Is Named After Which President: Lincoln Tunnel Facts, History, and the Tunnel That Almost Took Another Name

The tunnel connecting New York City and Weehawken, New Jersey, is the Lincoln Tunnel, named for Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president. It opened to traffic on December 22, 1937, with a single two-lane tube. Two more tubes followed, in 1945 and 1957, giving the crossing its present three-tube, six-lane configuration. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns and operates it, and roughly 120,000 vehicles use it on a typical weekday. Lincoln was not the first name considered, and that history tells you a lot about how the crossing got built.

What the Lincoln Tunnel Is and Where It Actually Runs

Start with the geometry, because the tunnel's endpoints explain most of its traffic behavior. The Lincoln Tunnel carries New Jersey State Route 495 under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey, and the west side of Midtown Manhattan. Its Manhattan portal lands near 39th Street and Tenth Avenue. The New Jersey end feeds into the helix, a spiraling approach road that lifts Route 495 traffic up the Palisades cliff to the tunnel mouth.

The crossing is a toll facility. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sets the toll, and as of the agency's 2024 and 2025 toll schedules, a passenger car pays a peak E-ZPass rate of $17.15 and a peak toll-by-mail rate of $22.15. Off-peak rates are lower. Carpool discounts and overnight rates exist too, so the figure you pay depends on your axle count, payment method, and the hour you cross. Drivers should confirm the current schedule on the Port Authority's site before budgeting, because the agency adjusts tolls on a published schedule.

Count the tubes and you get a useful number for understanding capacity. Three tubes, two lanes each, six lanes total. The center tube is reversible: its two lanes flow toward Manhattan during the morning peak and toward New Jersey in the evening. That reversal is why the tunnel can absorb a commuter surge in one direction without a matching return surge at the same hour.

Distance is short, but the approach is not. The tunnel itself runs about 1.5 miles under the river from portal to portal. The New Jersey approach through the helix adds roughly three-quarters of a mile of climbing roadway, which is where queues form when traffic backs up at the toll plaza. A driver who clears the toll at 8:10 a.m. on a Tuesday can still sit in the helix for twenty minutes; the tube is rarely the bottleneck.

Why Abraham Lincoln Got the Name

Naming the crossing after Lincoln was a deliberate political and civic choice, not a default. The tunnel was a Port Authority project built during the Great Depression, and its planners wanted a name with national resonance rather than a purely local reference. Lincoln, the president who preserved the Union and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, carried that weight. The Port Authority's own historical accounts and contemporary newspaper coverage from 1937 confirm the naming.

The timing matters. The first tube opened on December 22, 1937, and the dedication preceded opening day by a matter of weeks. New York and New Jersey officials gathered at the Manhattan portal for a ribbon ceremony; the first vehicles rolled through the next morning. According to period reporting in the New York Times, the opening drew crowds and a motorcade, and the tunnel was presented as an engineering triumph that linked the two states without a bridge.

There is a concrete detail worth knowing: the first tube opened without the center tube and without the third tube. The 1937 tunnel was a two-lane facility, and it was not designed to carry the volume it now handles. The second tube opened in 1945, and the third in 1957, each adding two lanes. That build-out spans twenty years, which tells you planners underestimated demand from the start.

Lincoln was not the only name on the table. Local officials and civic groups floated alternatives tied to the two states and to the era's infrastructure heroes. The Port Authority settled on Lincoln, and the choice has stuck for nearly nine decades. If you want the primary record, the Port Authority's own history pages and the New York Times archive for December 1937 are the places to confirm the dedication details.

The Name That Almost Stuck: How the Hudson River Crossings Got Their Labels

Here is the comparison most quick answers skip. The Port Authority operates four Hudson River crossings: the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the George Washington Bridge, and the Bayonne Bridge. Each name came from a different decision process, and the pattern shows how naming conventions evolved.

Read the table and a pattern emerges. The Holland Tunnel honors its chief engineer, Clifford Milburn Holland, who died in 1924 before the tunnel opened. The George Washington Bridge honors the first president. The Lincoln Tunnel honors the president who held the Union together. The Bayonne Bridge honors a place. Four crossings, four different naming logics, and only two of them carry presidential names.

That distinction matters for the search that brought you here. People sometimes confuse the Lincoln and Holland tunnels because both are Port Authority Hudson River tubes with similar profiles. The Holland is the older crossing, opened in 1927, and it runs between Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. The Lincoln runs between Midtown and Weehawken. If you are heading to the West Village or Tribeca, the Holland is usually the better approach; if you are heading to Times Square or the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the Lincoln is.

A second confusion involves the George Washington Bridge. The GWB also connects New York and New Jersey, but it spans the Hudson at 178th Street, far north of Midtown, and it carries Interstate 95. It is a bridge, not a tunnel, and it is named for Washington rather than Lincoln. Drivers who ask about "the president tunnel" sometimes mean the GWB, so pin down which crossing you need before you set a route.

Three Tubes, Three Openings: A Construction Timeline

The Lincoln Tunnel's history is a sequence of additions, and each one has a date and a reason. The first tube opened December 22, 1937. The second tube opened in 1945. The third opened in 1957. The center tube's reversible lanes came with the third tube's completion, which is why the tunnel's capacity doubled between 1937 and 1957.

Construction of the first tube began in 1934. Workers dug through silt and riverbed under compressed air, a method that carried real health risks for the crews. The Port Authority's accounts describe the shielding and caisson work in detail; the short version is that building under the Hudson in the 1930s was dangerous, slow, and expensive. The first tube's cost ran to roughly $85 million in Depression-era dollars, a figure that would translate to well over a billion today.

The second tube's 1945 opening came at the end of World War II, when materials and labor were still constrained. The third tube's 1957 opening coincided with the interstate highway boom and the rise of car commuting from New Jersey suburbs. Each addition tracked a wave of demand: first the Depression-era link, then postwar commuting, then the suburban boom.

One engineering detail earns a mention because it explains the tunnel's safety profile. The Lincoln Tunnel has standpipes and a fire standpipe system, ventilation buildings at both portals, and a control center that monitors traffic and air quality. The Port Authority's tunnel rules ban hazardous materials from the tubes, and enforcement happens at the approach. If you are hauling propane tanks or flammable cargo, the Lincoln is off-limits; the agency publishes the prohibited-materials list and the alternate routes.

The Reversible Center Tube and What It Means for Your Commute

The center tube's reversible flow is the single most useful operational fact for a driver. In the morning peak, usually from about 5 a.m. to noon on weekdays, the center tube's two lanes run toward Manhattan. In the afternoon and evening, the lanes reverse and run toward New Jersey. The Port Authority adjusts the exact reversal times based on traffic patterns, so the schedule is not a fixed clock.

That reversal produces a specific failure case worth knowing. If you cross into Manhattan in the late morning and try to return through the Lincoln in the early afternoon, you may hit the transition. The center tube can be closed briefly while crews switch the lane configuration, and the remaining two tubes then carry both directions. Expect delays during the switch, and check the Port Authority's real-time traffic feed before you commit.

A second failure case involves the helix. When the New Jersey-bound tubes back up, the queue climbs the helix and can spill onto Route 495 westbound. Drivers who know the area sometimes bail out at Kennedy Boulevard or take the New Jersey Turnpike instead. The Port Authority's traffic cameras and the 511 systems in both states publish live conditions; a two-minute check before you leave can save half an hour.

Carpools get a break. The Port Authority offers a discounted toll for vehicles with three or more occupants during peak hours, and the discount is applied through E-ZPass. The exact discount changes with the toll schedule, so confirm the current carpool rate on the agency's site. For a daily commuter, the difference between the full peak toll and the carpool rate is the kind of number that adds up over a year.

How the Lincoln Compares With the Holland and the George Washington Bridge

Pick your crossing by destination, not by habit. The three main Hudson crossings serve different parts of Manhattan, and the right choice depends on where you are going and when.

The table's practical read: if your destination is north of 59th Street and you are coming from I-95, the GWB usually wins. If your destination is Midtown, the Lincoln is the straight shot. If your destination is below Canal Street, the Holland is the closer approach. Choosing the crossing that matches your destination beats choosing the one with the shortest tunnel.

A comparison row the quick answers miss: pedestrian and bicycle access. None of the three crossings allows pedestrians or cyclists through the tubes. The George Washington Bridge carries a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path on its south side, and it is the only Hudson River crossing in the Port Authority system where you can walk or ride across. If you are planning a car-free trip between the states, the GWB path is your option.

A second row worth building: bus access. The Lincoln Tunnel's Manhattan portal sits next to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which makes it the primary bus corridor from New Jersey into Midtown. NJ Transit and private carriers run thousands of daily bus trips through the Lincoln, and the tunnel's exclusive bus lane on the New Jersey approach moves those buses past car traffic during the morning peak. That lane is why bus commuters sometimes beat drivers by a wide margin.

Reading the Toll Schedule Without Getting Burned

Tolls on the Lincoln are set by the Port Authority and adjusted on a published schedule. As of the agency's 2024–2025 schedule, a passenger car pays $17.15 with E-ZPass at peak and $22.15 toll-by-mail at peak, with lower off-peak rates. The agency has historically raised tolls in increments, so the number you see today may not hold in a future year. Confirm on the Port Authority's toll page before you budget.

Payment method changes the math. E-ZPass users pay less than toll-by-mail users, and the gap is not trivial: on the peak schedule above, the difference is $5.00 per crossing. A daily commuter crossing 250 times a year would pay $1,250 more by mail than by E-ZPass at those rates. The arithmetic is simple, and it is the reason the agency pushes E-ZPass enrollment.

Carpools and overnight travel get discounts. The Port Authority's carpool plan discounts peak tolls for vehicles with three or more occupants, and overnight rates are lower than peak rates. The exact percentages change with the schedule, so the honest answer is to check the current table. What does not change is the structure: peak costs more than off-peak, E-ZPass costs less than mail, and carpools cost less than solo drivers.

A cost computation you can do yourself: multiply your crossing count by the rate that applies to you. If you cross twice a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year, that is 500 crossings. At the peak E-ZPass rate of $17.15, the annual toll runs to $8,575. At the peak toll-by-mail rate of $22.15, it runs to $11,075. The $2,500 gap is the value of an E-ZPass tag, and it is the number to weigh against any convenience argument for paying by mail.

Common Mix-Ups: Holland, Lincoln, and the President Question

The search that brought you here usually comes with a second question attached. People want to know which president the Lincoln Tunnel honors, and they sometimes want to know whether the Holland Tunnel is also named for a president. It is not. The Holland Tunnel honors Clifford Milburn Holland, the chief engineer who led its design and died before it opened in 1927. That is the most common mix-up, and it is worth stating plainly.

A second mix-up involves the George Washington Bridge. The GWB is named for the first president, and it is a bridge, not a tunnel. Drivers who hear "the president crossing" sometimes picture the GWB and sometimes picture the Lincoln. The distinguishing facts are simple: the Lincoln is a tunnel into Midtown, the GWB is a bridge at 178th Street, and the Holland is a tunnel into Lower Manhattan named for an engineer.

A third mix-up involves the Queens–Midtown Tunnel and the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, which are New York City crossings operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels rather than the Port Authority. Neither crosses the Hudson, and neither carries a presidential name in the way the Lincoln does. If your route takes you to Queens or Brooklyn, those are the tunnels you want, and the naming question does not apply.

The clean way to remember it: two Port Authority Hudson River tunnels, one named for an engineer (Holland) and one named for a president (Lincoln), plus a bridge named for a president (George Washington) and a bridge named for a city (Bayonne). Four crossings, four naming logics, and the Lincoln is the one that answers the president question.

The Tunnel's Role in the Region's Growth

The Lincoln Tunnel did not just move cars; it reshaped where people lived. Before the tunnel opened, Hudson County's waterfront was a port and industrial corridor. After 1937, and especially after the 1957 third tube, Weehawken, Union City, and North Bergen became commuter towns tied to Midtown Manhattan by a fifteen-minute drive. That shift is visible in the housing stock and the bus corridors that grew along Route 495.

The Port Authority's own planning documents describe the tunnel as part of a regional network rather than a standalone facility. The agency coordinates the Lincoln with the Holland, the GWB, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and it manages traffic across all of them during disruptions. When one crossing closes, the others absorb the load, and the Lincoln's reversible center tube is a big part of how that absorption works.

A concrete example of the network effect: when the Holland Tunnel closed for Hurricane Sandy repairs in 2012, the Lincoln and the GWB took on additional traffic, and the Port Authority adjusted lane management to cope. The agency's post-Sandy reports document the diversion. That is the kind of edge case that shows why the tunnel's operational flexibility matters beyond a single commute.

For a traveler today, the practical takeaway is to treat the Lincoln as one node in a system. Check the Port Authority's real-time feeds for all crossings, not just the one you planned to use. A ten-minute detour to the GWB can beat a forty-minute queue at the Lincoln toll plaza, and the agency's traffic cameras make that call possible before you commit.

FAQ

Is the Lincoln Tunnel named after Abraham Lincoln or someone else?

It honors Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president. The Port Authority chose the name ahead of the first tube's December 22, 1937 opening, and the dedication ceremony drew state and local officials to the Manhattan portal. The Holland Tunnel, by contrast, honors chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland, which is why the two names are so often confused. If you need the primary record, the Port Authority's history pages and the December 1937 New York Times archive are the places to check.

How many lanes does the Lincoln Tunnel have, and do they all run the same direction?

Six lanes total, two per tube. The north and south tubes run one-way in fixed directions, and the center tube's two lanes reverse with the commute. Morning peak sends the center tube toward Manhattan; evening peak sends it toward New Jersey. The Port Authority sets the exact reversal times, so the schedule shifts with traffic patterns rather than a fixed clock. During the switch, expect a brief closure and heavier loads on the outer tubes.

Can you walk or bike through the Lincoln Tunnel?

No. Pedestrians and cyclists are prohibited in all three tubes, and the Port Authority enforces the rule at the approaches. The only Hudson River crossing in the Port Authority system with a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path is the George Washington Bridge, which carries a path on its south side. If you are planning a car-free trip between New Jersey and Manhattan, the GWB path is your route, and it connects to transit on both ends.

What does it cost to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel in 2026?

The Port Authority sets the toll, and its 2024–2025 schedule lists $17.15 for a passenger car with E-ZPass at peak and $22.15 toll-by-mail at peak, with lower off-peak rates. Those figures are schedule-dependent, and the agency adjusts tolls on a published timetable, so confirm the current rate on the Port Authority's site before you budget. The E-ZPass versus mail gap of $5.00 per crossing is the number that matters most for regular commuters.

Which crossing should I use for Midtown versus Lower Manhattan?

Use the Lincoln for Midtown destinations near Times Square, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, or 39th Street. Use the Holland for Lower Manhattan destinations such as Tribeca, SoHo, or the West Village. Use the George Washington Bridge for I-95 through traffic and Upper Manhattan. The three crossings serve different parts of the city, and matching the crossing to your destination beats picking the one with the shortest tunnel.

Is the Lincoln Tunnel the same as the Holland Tunnel?

No. They are separate Port Authority crossings with different namesakes, different endpoints, and different opening dates. The Holland opened in 1927 between Lower Manhattan and Jersey City and honors engineer Clifford Milburn Holland. The Lincoln opened in 1937 between Midtown and Weehawken and honors Abraham Lincoln. The confusion is common because both are Hudson River tubes with similar profiles, but the names answer different questions.

What happens if the center tube is switching direction when I arrive?

You may face a brief closure of the center tube while crews reconfigure the lanes, and the remaining two tubes then carry both directions. Delays during the switch are normal, especially in the early afternoon when the reversal from Manhattan-bound to New Jersey-bound happens. Check the Port Authority's real-time traffic feed before you leave; if the switch is underway, the George Washington Bridge is the usual alternate for New Jersey-bound trips.

Did the Lincoln Tunnel always have three tubes?

No. The first tube opened in 1937 with two lanes, the second tube opened in 1945, and the third opened in 1957. The twenty-year build-out tracks three demand waves: Depression-era construction, postwar commuting, and the suburban boom. The reversible center tube came with the third tube's completion, which is why the tunnel's capacity doubled between 1937 and 1957 rather than growing in a single step.