Park Avenue Tunnel

The Park Avenue Tunnel passes under Park Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan, leading towards Grand Central Terminal. It once carried the New York and Harlem Railroad and later that company's streetcar line and was called the Murray Hill Tunnel. Due to the construction of Grand Central Terminal and the removal of tracks, the north end has been reconstructed for a steeper approach. It is now under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Transportation, and carries one lane of northbound car traffic from East 33rd Street to East 40th Street. From 40th Street north, traffic follows the Park Avenue Viaduct. Prior to August 3, 2008, the tunnel carried two-way traffic, but was reconfigured to increase pedestrian safety. The Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway runs parallel to the Park Avenue Tunnel in two tunnels below it. The tunnel was originally built as an open rock cut, completed in 1834, after which the NY&H Railroad was opened as far as Yorkville, to 85th Street. In the 1850s the cut was roofed over, using granite stringers from the original railroad bed south of 14th Street, thus creating the present tunnel. The vertical clearance is 8 feet 11 inches (2.71 m). --wikipedia.org "Open to pedestrians for the first time in history, the Park Avenue Tunnel welcomes visitors to experience an interactive light and sound installation like no other. Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has transformed the 1,400 foot long tunnel with 300 theatrical spotlights that create shimmering archways along the tunnel's walls and ceilings. It is called Voice Tunnel.At the tunnel's center, participants speak into a special intercom that records their voices and then loops them. The louder, both in pitch and volume, the participants' voices are, the more intense the light beams become. On 150 loudspeakers that are spread throughout the tunnel, trailing voices of the past 90 participants can be heard by the pedestrians who are walking through. "So it's not a cacophony," Lozano-Hemmer tells WNYC, "the voices are quiet. They're more like little memories of the tunnel."Voice Tunnel is the signature event of Summer Streets, New York City's annual celebration of its most valuable public space, its streets! Kicked off this past Saturday, the event actually bans cars for about seven miles of major streets, between the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. Running for only three select Saturdays (August 3, August 10 and August 17, 2013), during specific times (7am to 1pm), Voice Tunnel is one interactive light show you'll want to check out before it's gone!" --http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/rafael-lozano-hemmer-voice-tunnel-nyc