The Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel carrying the Pennsylvania Turnpike through the Allegheny Mountains. At this point, the Turnpike carries Interstates 70 and 76. The original Allegheny Mountain Tunnel was built in the late 19th century for the South Pennsylvania Railroad, which was never completed. This tunnel was not used due to concerns about its structural integrity.
The eastern end of this original tunnel can be seen by parking on the service road at the turnpike's eastern portal and walking up to the area just above and a bit north of the turnpike portal. The opening is visible in the rocks just uphill. Entering this old tunnel is prohibited.
The current westbound tunnel was built in 1939 as part of the original construction for the highway. At first, this tunnel served both westbound and eastbound traffic with a single lane in each direction. The eastbound tunnel was completed in 1965 as part of an expansion and upgrade of the turnpike due to increased traffic volume. Both tunnels are approximately 6,070 feet (1,850 m) in length. Explosives and other hazardous materials are not allowed in the tunnels. Vehicles carrying these materials must exit before the tunnel and take other roads around the tunnel. Restrictions on some hazardous materials in non-bulk form have been lifted.
Long term plans call for major maintenance to be performed on the tunnels; however, this presents a major problem for traffic. Terrible backups prompted officials to build the second tube. With today's traffic volumes, it would not be feasible to close one tube and route all traffic through the other. Possible plans include building a third tunnel, as well as bypassing the tunnels completely as was done for the Rays Hill and Sideling Hill Tunnels.
Famous quotes containing the words allegheny, mountain and/or tunnel:
“Wachusett hides its lingering voice
Within its rocky heart,
And Allegheny graves its tone
Throughout his lofty chart.
Monadnock, on his forehead hoar,
Doth seal the sacred trust,
Your mountains build their monument,
Though ye destroy their dust.”
—Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791–1865)
“Nor has science sufficient humanity, so long as the naturalist overlooks the wonderful congruity which subsists between man and the world; of which he is lord, not because he is the most subtile inhabitant, but because he is its head and heart, and finds something of himself in every great and small thing, in every mountain stratum, in every new law of color, fact of astronomy, or atmospheric influence which observation or analysis lay open.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The only way to find out anything about what kinds of lives people led in any given period is to tunnel into their records and to let them speak for themselves.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)