In May 1930, the Terminal Bridge Corporation petitioned the New York City Board of Estimate for permission to build and operate a tunnel under the East River. In November of that year, the Board of Estimate referred the Brooklyn-Manhattan tunnel plan to the New York City Board of Transportation, who was tasked with surveying the site of the tunnel. At the time, the tunnel would have cost $75 million, including land acquisition, if it included two 3-lane tunnels. The tunnels itself would have cost $58 million if they were three lanes, or $50 million if two lanes. The next year, the Board of Transportation announced that the construction the proposed tunnel was estimated to cost $60 million, assuming that the tunnels were in diameter with roadways and a clearance. In October 1933, the Board of Estimate approved funding for the tunnel in the city's capital outlay budget for 1934. Two months later, the Board of Estimate approved the Brooklyn-Manhattan tunnel in conjunction with a Staten Island-Brooklyn tunnel under the Narrows. The city was set to ask for $50 million in federal funding, but this request was dropped from the final vote.