City officials said all lanes of the Queens-Midtown tunnel were reopened early Wednesday evening, after some or all had been shut down for hours because a contractor drilled a hole into the structure, causing a leak.
But the disruption continued to cause serious traffic in and around the tunnel into and beyond rush hour. Drivers were forced to rework their commutes home while buses were rerouted over 59th Street and the Williamsburg Bridge, leading to mass congestion. That was complicated by the travel of tennis fans eager to get to the U.S. Open, which is being held in Queens.
The transit meltdown began around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, when a drilling contractor “accidentally perforated a small amount of the outside edge” of the tunnel, according to Josh Kraus, the chief operating officer for the city’s economic development corporation.
Kraus, speaking at a press conference around 4:30 p.m. alongside Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials, said that the contractor had been helping design upcoming plans to continue the city Economic Development Corporation’s East River Esplanade project – though officials aren’t entirely sure what went wrong.
“We are continuing to investigate how – and why – this occurred,” Kraus said.
The leak from the hole caused water to enter the tunnel, forcing officials to initially shut down both tubes of the tunnel while they investigated what went wrong. Videos on social media showed water splashing onto vehicles’ windshields.
The contractor drilled a hole that was 2.5 inches in diameter through the cast iron liner above the exhaust duct, MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Cathy Sheridan said the press conference. “We hope it will be within hours and not days.”
She said the contractor drilled through 50 feet of water and another 50 feet through soil, then into the tunnel.
An emergency contractor plugged in the leak initially, but officials planned to eventually replace that plug with a permanent barrier made out of steel or concrete.
An initial social media alert from the MTA this afternoon described the issue as a water main break, but officials later clarified that was incorrect.
This is a developing story and has been updated.