The Bathtub refers to the underground foundation area at the site of the World Trade Center and accompanying buildings in New York City. The term bathtub is something of a misnomer, as the area does not hold any water; rather the purpose of its design is to keep water out. The name is more so used to describe its shape of a deep basin with high walls, like a bathtub.
Description
thumb|1969 view of the original WTC bathtub looking northwest. Note PATH eastbound tunnel F supported on a temporary trestle in foreground. Slurry wall with tie-backs can be seen on the left, and the frame of the north tower in the background. Also note the since-removed elevated west-side highway, which ran above [[West Side Highway|West Street (today's
West Side Highway).]]
The Bathtub, built in 1967–1968, encompasses a large, roughly rectangular excavation down to bedrock surrounded by reinforced concrete walls, intended to serve as dams to prevent water intrusion from the nearby Hudson River (North River). It enclosed nearly the entire original World Trade Center. The World Trade Center site was located on man-made water-clogged landfill that had accumulated over centuries, providing an extension of land out onto the Hudson River from the original Manhattan shoreline, with bedrock located below. Manually removing water from this area would have severely altered the water levels surrounding the World Trade Center site and thus would have jeopardized the foundations of nearby buildings, causing them to sink. This is why the Bathtub method was used. Excavation of a new Bathtub was conducted in front of the old one between 2006 and 2008, with the new Bathtub reaching underground. A section of the old bathtub was left exposed and can be viewed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.