A vehicular tunnel under the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn was proposed by the New York Board of Trade and Transportation in 1925, in response to growing truck traffic congestion in Lower Manhattan. The tunnel would have been located between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. A tunnel that specifically connected the Battery in Manhattan with Red Hook in Brooklyn, passing underneath the East River and Governors Island south of both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, was first proposed by Brooklyn Borough president J. J. Byrne in 1926. However, this plan initially did not receive support. Albert Goldman, the New York City Commissioner of Plant and Structures, brought up the plan again in January 1929. In February 1930, the city publicized plans for a six-lane vehicular tunnel from West Street, Manhattan, to Hamilton Avenue, Brooklyn. At the time, ferry service along that path was slow and unreliable. Real-estate speculators believed that land prices along Hamilton Avenue would appreciate as a result of the tunnel's construction, and that freight shipments could be delivered to Manhattan faster. The tunnel proposal also entailed widening Hamilton Avenue to and building a large bridge over the Gowanus Canal, south of the proposed tunnel's entrance.