The Holland Tunnel Goes Green!

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has launched its Greening the Holland Tunnel project.

Over the next several months, workers will install environmentally friendly Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights throughout the tunnel that will save the multi-state agency more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.

The project, which calls for the existing 3,336 fluorescent lamps inside the north and south tubes of the Holland Tunnel to be replaced with high-efficiency LED technology, was identified by the agency’s Board of Commissioners as part of a package of sustainability enhancements.

Once they’re all installed in the Fall of 2013, the lamps will meet the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) lighting standards and increase lighting levels in the tunnel.

PA Chairman David Samson said, “The Port Authority is committed to improving the environment for the hundreds of millions of people who use, live, and work near our facilities, from greening the Holland Tunnel, to protecting more than 340 acres of wetlands along the Hudson River, to constructing One World Trade Center as one of the most sustainable office buildings in the world, the agency will continue to conduct its business in the most environmentally conscious way possible.”

Port Authority Vice-Chairman Scott Rechler stressed, “The Port Authority is a leader in the field of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, and the Holland Tunnel is believed to be the first vehicular tunnel to utilize LEDs lamps for illumination that meet the IES standards for safe tunnel lighting. The new lighting will accomplish safer, cleaner, and more efficient travel through the tunnel.”