which was located at a higher elevation. The tunnel would have been bored from both sides, and was expected to be completed within 14 months. Since the tunnel was to be located underneath private property, easements had to be obtained to allow for its construction. They were acquired in a proceeding under a provision of the City Charter, not under the terms of the Rapid Transit Act. In June 1910, the local board of directors sent a resolution calling for the construction of the street tunnel to the New York City Board of Estimate (NYCBOE). At the time, funding had been acquired for slightly more than half the length of the tunnel, with the remainder expected to be secured by easements. The NYCBOE approved the petition for the improvement and agreed to hold a public hearing on December 29, 1910. Unlike other streets in the city, easements were only acquired to a height of above the tunnel. In January, construction was expected to begin that summer. The contract for the underground street was let on September 9, 1911, and was awarded to the Bell-Ross Contracting Company, headed by Roswell D. Williams, on September 25. The company was given a year to finish the work, but expected to complete it in nine months. In October 1911, construction of the tunnel was expected to be completed on April 1, 1912; construction began in January 1912. In December 1911, the local Board of Improvements authorized plans to extend the tunnel west at grade across Broadway and Bennett Avenue and to tunnel to a point underneath Fort Washington Avenue, the highest point in Manhattan, where elevators would take passengers to the surface. An extension of the tunnel was expected to lead quickly to development in the area. As such, an extension was discussed and questions were raised concerning which agency would operate the elevators. In June 1912, blasting on the tunnel was completed, with its expected opening date being September 1912. To cut down the danger of accidents, the contractors sank a shaft halfway up the hill and tunneled east to the subway station and west to Broadway. The tunnel opened on March 8, 1913. At a ceremony for the tunnel's opening, Manhattan Borough President George McAneny, Commissioner Williams of the Public Service Commission and other officials unanimously allowed the street to be named Tunnel Street. The tunnel was also intended to be used