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Wedged up against high-end, unfinished buildings on New York City's west side, crews are building the northern half of a "tunnel to nowhere." But private advocates are betting that by building the 0.8- mile-long box structure now, the city will benefit in the long run.
The goal of this tunnel, which represents the 15-year-old efforts of the Riverside South Planning Corp., is to someday replace the Miller Highway viaduct along the Hudson River. Along this stretch of waterfront, private developers Extell Development Co. and the Carlyle Group are constructing a 77-acre complex of office buildings and condominiums. They acquired the land from Donald Trump and his Hong Kong partners last year. Two buildings are under construction and eight are completed.
Because of RSPC's successful arguments, the city asked Extell in 2004 to take advantage of existing excavation for tower foundations to build the tunnel structure's northbound half. The original plan had been to build a support structure for...