NEW YORK CITY-New York is continuing to build big – and dig deeper. In creating room for a new generation of container ships, city officials and representatives from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey unveiled plans for a new $250 million water tunnel between Staten Island and Brooklyn that will serve as a critical element in the region’s Panama Canal expansion.

The project involves digging a new water transmission main called a “siphon” between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Tompkinsville on Staten Island that will allow for the removal of two existing tunnels that are currently at a shallower depth. In turn, the work will enable the dredging and deepening of the Anchorage Channel, which will pave the way for post-Panamax ships to access and utilize the New York/New Jersey harbor.

“If you listen carefully, the sounds you hear are the sound of jobs being created,” said Port Authority executive director Pat Foye, showcasing the 110-ton, 300-foot-long tunnel boring machine, which will soon begin drilling 100 feet underground. Over 10 months, the machine will drill a distance of nearly two miles. Once completed, it will provide nearly five million gallons of daily water supply and up to 150 million gallons in emergency situations.