63rd Street Tunnel

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**63rd Street Tunnel**
Carries	2 tracks of the IND 63rd Street Line (F) of the New York City Subway; 2 trackways for future use by the LIRR
Crosses	East River
Locale	Manhattan and Queens, New York City
Maintained by	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Opening date	October 29, 1989

The 63rd Street Tunnel currently carries the IND 63rd Street Line of the New York City Subway under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. It is the newest of the East River tunnels, and the newest river crossing in the New York metropolitan area. Construction began in the late 1960s. Unlike previous tunnels that were bored under the riverbed, the 63rd Street Tunnel was constructed from prefabricated concrete tubes. Trenches were built in the river bed, and the prefabricated sections of tunnel were floated into position and then sunk into the trenches. The tunnel also serves a station at Roosevelt Island.

The tunnel has two levels. Currently, the F service uses the upper level, connecting the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens to the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan via the IND 63rd Street Line. There is also an unused connection to the BMT Broadway Line. The lower level is currently unused, but was designed for the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access project to bring LIRR commuter trains to Grand Central Terminal.

MTA slide of the proposed LIRR East Side Access project, featuring the 63rd Street Tunnel. It should be possible to replace this fair use image with a freely licensed one. If you can, please do so as soon as is practical.