Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike - History

History

When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940, it was known as the "Tunnel Highway" because it possessed seven tunnels: from east to west, Blue Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, Allegheny Mountain, and Laurel Hill. There was one tunnel through each mountain, and the highway was reduced to a single lane in each direction through each tunnel.

Originally, this was not a problem, but by the late 1950s, the turnpike was so heavily used that traffic congestion demanded expansion. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) conducted studies on either expanding or bypassing the tunnels. The result was the "twinning" of four tunnels (by constructing a second, parallel, two-lane tunnel), and outright bypass and closure of the other three. The tunnels through the Blue, Kittatinny, Tuscarora, and Allegheny mountains were expanded through the "twinning" process, while the other three were bypassed. The Laurel Hill Tunnel, located on the border of Westmoreland and Somerset counties, was one of these tunnels, though the bypass was only around two miles (3.2 km) long.

The Sideling Hill and Rays Hill tunnels, on the other hand, were near each other, and a 13-mile (21 km) bypass was required. As a result, the Cove Valley Travel Plaza, which was located between the eastern portal of the Sideling Hill Tunnel and the present-day turnpike, was bypassed. It was replaced with a new Sideling Hill Travel Plaza, which, unlike the plaza it replaced, was a single building serving travelers from both directions of the highway.