Dear Editor,
Happy Anniversary to R line subway service via the Montague Street Tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The original construction of this tunnel by the old Brooklyn Manhattan Rapid Transit (BMT) company cost slightly less than $10 million. To build the same tunnel today would probably cost several billion dollars. Work began on October 12, 1914.
There were 65,000 pre-COVID-19 riders from Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights and other neighborhoods benefitting from a direct subway connection to Manhattan, along with communities along Broadway and Queens Boulevard in Queens.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck