MTA Newsroom

Queens Midtown Tunnel: On The Night Shift

Tunnel maintenance worker Cleary Freeman re-installs the cover after replacing one of the roadway lights in the Queens Midtown Tunnel.

While most of us are drifting off to sleep, maintenance crew members at the Queens Midtown Tunnel are just starting their day, getting the tunnel ready for the next day. With average daily traffic of 80,000 vehicles, all work inside the tunnel’s two tubes is performed overnight, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“We close one lane in each tube every weeknight to do our work,” said Maintenance Supervisor Vidyasagar Madhavan. “This allows us to do the big and small jobs that we need to do safely and not hold up traffic.”

The night crew’s Nick Villacci, Anthony Napoli, Chris Chernak, Cleary Freeman, Michael Chin Hong, Seth Schechter, Roy Thomas, Brentnol Adams and Robert Ziehl run their maintenance vehicles through both tubes of the tunnel stopping to tackle their “to do list” every night that help make the tunnel safer for the next day’s customers.

Lane delineators, orange plastic tubes in the centerline of the tunnel, keep vehicles in their respective lanes. The delineators are flexible and about three feet tall with reflective tape at the top mounted on a base in the roadway.

“The first thing we do when delineators show dirt is power wash them,’ said the crew’s senior member Nick Villacci. “When they get worn out or damaged, we replace them using a propane torch to heat adhesive pads to install them on the roadway. The pads are about the size of floor tiles and they hold the new delineator in place.”

They fill potholes, clean or replace lane delineators and clean out the tunnel’s drainage system as they make their way through each tube. Ensuring the tunnel’s drainage system works requires getting a bit dirty at times, as gutters, catch basins and screens have to be cleared of debris to prevent clogging. This is especially important to do prior to rain or snowstorms to prevent roadway flooding.

One of the biggest jobs is replacing all the roadway bulbs in the tunnel every fall. Replacing them all at the same time reduces the frequency of burned out bulbs and the bright lighting helps contributes to better visibility and safety on the roadway. And part of the tunnel’s upkeep includes inspecting and servicing the capacitors, ballasts and starters that are part of the system. The crew is also responsible for the maintenance on all the directional and safety lighting and the variable message signs posted throughout the tunnel.

“All the lights, including traffic signals and variable message signs and their fixtures throughout the tunnel are checked nightly and replaced as necessary,” said crew supervisor Madhaven. “The roadway lighting in the tunnel has a very natural appearance that makes it look similar to daylight. We also maintain the emergency telephone system and the fire extinguishers inside the tunnel.”

With the ebb and flow of the freeze/thaw cycle in winter, potholes are inevitable. But the crew fills any new one each night as they move along the roadway. During cold weather periods, potholes are filled using a temporary repair called a cold patch, which consists of asphalt tamped down into the pothole. In warmer weather, long-lasting pothole repairs can be accomplished because of the availability of hot asphalt which bonds well in higher temperatures.

The crew also takes on other assignments such as washing the walls of the tunnel every other month at the Queens Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnels when the weather is above freezing. A special tunnel washer truck with large rotating brushes on an articulated arm spreads a soap and water mix while scrubbing the tunnel walls. A flush truck follows and sprays water from an arc of nozzles that removes the soap and grime leaving behind clean surfaces. The tunnel ventilation system is then turned up full blast to dry the roadway.

Since there is little traffic on the toll plaza at night, the crew can clean the interior of the tollbooths, wash the truck exhaust grime off the exterior tollbooth walls and repaint the curbs and abutments on the toll islands that protect the booths.

As dawn approaches the crew picks up its tools and calls it a night until tomorrow when they return to their job of keeping the tunnel ready to safely handle the constant flow of traffic between Manhattan and Queens.

The Queens Midtown Tunnel opened to traffic on November 15, 1940.

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