By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — The PATH tunnels running under the Hudson River are getting steel reinforcements to prevent potential terrorist attacks that could bring down the system or kill riders, the New York Post reported.
The $600 million Port Authority project includes installing inch-thick metal plates along the tunnel walls and "flood-prevention gates" at either end, sources told the paper.
"These are designed to avoid massive, catastrophic flooding, and the Port Authority will have protocols in place to evacuate everyone in the tunnel first," a source told the Post.
The work, which is being done at night, was authorized by the Port Authority after a 2006 report showed how vulnerable the tunnels were — a bomb big enough to blow a 50-foot-wide hole would let a million gallons of water flood in, the Post reported.
Law enforcement broke up a plan to bomb the PATH system that same year, according to the paper.
The four tunnels, which run from Jersey City to the West Village and the World Trade Center, are nearly 100 years old and are much weaker than other below ground routes, according to the paper.
