Education in New York City privately run secular and religious schools in the city. The New York Public Library, which has the largest collection of any public library system in the country, serves Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. It has several research libraries including the Main Branch and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Queens is served by the Queens Borough Public Library, the nation's second largest public library system, while Brooklyn Public Library serves Brooklyn. New York City is also home to hundreds of cultural institutions and historic sites, many of which are internationally known. It is widely regarded a center
Staten Island Tunnel funded by the city, the tunnel was expected to help expand the then-sparsely populated borough in a similar manner to the population and development explosions seen in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Under the Dual Contracts, three routes were proposed—two to Brooklyn and one to Manhattan—which would connect the Staten Island Railway's rapid transit service (SIRT) to existing subway lines. The Manhattan proposal, often called the "direct route," would have connected with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s lines under Battery Park, near the current Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel. "Direct Route A" would have utilized a five-section tunnel under the New York Harbor,