ASCE and ASME formally designated the Holland Tunnel as a National Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Monument on May 2, 1984.

The Holland Tunnel was the first underwater vehicular crossing of the Hudson River and the first in the world with a special ventilation system specifically designed for automobile and truck exhaust fumes. It received landmark status from the two national Societies in recognition of several engineering firsts: an unprecedented tunnel ventilation system, construction of the longest underwater vehicular tunnel, and the largest tube in diameter—29.5-foot diameter twin tubes—at the time of completion.

ASCE President S. Russell Stearns and ASME Past-President Donald N. Zwiep joined Port Authority Assistant Executive Director Robert F. Bennett at the New York Plaza of the Holland Tunnel to unveil a commemorative bronze plaque mounted on a five-foot high granite pedestal. The plaque can be seen on the west side of Varick Street between Watts and Broome Streets, near the entrance to the north tube of the tunnel.

Mr. Bennett welcomed guests to the ceremony, at which speakers included Robert A. Olmsted, Chairman of the ASCE Metropolitan Section History & Heritage Committee and Dr. Robert B. Gaither, member of the ASME History and Heritage Committee and past-president of the society.

Clifford M. Holland, the first chief engineer of the tunnel, died of exhaustion and overwork at the age of 41, just two days before the holing through of the 1½ mile-long tunnel. Following his death in October 1924, President John P. Perry wrote letters on behalf of the ASCE New York (Metropolitan) Section to both the New York State Bridge & Tunnel Commission and the New Jersey Interstate Bridge & Tunnel Commission asking that the vehicular tunnels under construction be named "The Holland Tunnels." Today, the Holland Tunnel remains one of the few major engineering works that have been named after its engineer.