Queens Midtown Tunnel - Definition and Overview

The Queens Midtown Tunnel is a toll road in New York City crosses under the East River and connects the Borough of Queens at Long Island City terminus of I-495 with the Borough of Manhattan between the major crosstown thoroughfares of 34th and 42nd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan area. Opened to traffic in 1940, it consists of twin tubes, carrying an aggregate of four traffic lanes.

From May 18, 2003, the crossing charge for a two-axle passenger vehicle is $4 charged in each direction, with a $.50 discount for E-ZPass users.

The tunnel is owned by the City of New York and operated by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York).

In the 1997 feature film Men in Black, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith star in a scene in which their car turns overs in the tunnel, to ride on the ceiling of the tunnel.

Arnold Salkin was the first person to die in the tunnel from vehicular traffic.