Work started in 1874, but was almost immediately tied up in a lawsuit for 5 years. Interesting side note: The first sections of the tunnels were built to full freight-car dimensions.
You might find Tunneling Under the Hudson River (1882) interesting.
Common misconception. The PA’s concern was that if the H&M stopped running due to bankruptcy, the Holland Tunnel would not be able to accommodate the increased vehicular traffic. At the time the PA took over the H&M, the future WTC site was still planned for the East Side.
True.
BTW, this is a particular area of interest for me. I’ve had some of my collection out at a museum in the past.
Municipalities are creations of states, so a single municipality can’t be in more than one state. My hometown of Texarkana is two side-by-side municipalities, one in Texas and one in Arkansas. I don’t see any way for this to be different: under the US Constitution the states are sovereign, except in the very few Section Eight areas they have ceded to Congress. Charter of municipalities or other corporations is not one of those areas.
Street railways, elevated railroads, and subways need permission to use the streets, and (as with electric or gas utilities) this is usually granted as a municipal franchise that is exclusive to one company. Chicago’s elevated railroads, for instance, extended their lines into Evanston, Oak Park, and other suburbs—but needed to get separate franchise agreements to do so. Washington Metro is a compact of Maryland, Virginia, and DC, rather like the Port Authority.
Except in New York and Boston, the subway era came too late for private operators like BMT and IRT to be involved. But a franchise can still be involved. The City of Chicago, for instance, built and owns and maintains the downtown subways, and a separate municipal organization, the Chicago Transit Authority, has the rights to run its trains through them.
Because NY has style & taste, & the other folks are from New Jersey, and are willing to admit to it.