Negro Mountain Tunnel

The Negro Mountain Tunnel is a tunnel located in Negro Mountain in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was built by New York Central Railroad as part of the proposed but never completed South Pennsylvania Railroad, which over time became known as "Vanderbilt's Folly". The tunnel is located near milepost 116.7 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike where it is ten miles east of the Quemahoning Tunnel (also built for South Penn but never used by the Turnpike), 16 miles east of the Laurel Hill Tunnel (used by the Turnpike but bypassed in 1964), and seven miles west of the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel currently used by the Turnpike.

When the newly formed Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission bought the South Penn right-of-way in 1937, the Turnpike considered using the Negro Mountain Tunnel, but instead bypassed it, making it one of six tunnels bypassed along the highway, including Quemahoning and the original Allegheny Mountain Tunnel due to structural concerns, plus three used by the Turnpike but later abandoned.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Completed highways
  • Mainline Turnpike (I-70, I-76, I-276)
  • Northeast Extension (I-476)
  • James E. Ross Highway (I-376)
  • Amos K. Hutchinson Bypass (Turnpike 66)
Partially-completed highways
  • Mon–Fayette Expressway (Turnpike 43)
  • Southern Beltway (Turnpike 576)
Tunnels and Bridges
  • Allegheny Mountain Tunnel
  • Allegheny River Bridge
  • Beaver River Bridge
  • Blue Mountain Tunnel
  • Delaware River Bridge
  • Diamond Run Viaduct
  • Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel
  • Lehigh Tunnel
  • Schuylkill River Bridge
  • Susquehanna River Bridge
  • Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel
Aborted expansion plans
  • Chester Extension
  • Erie Extension
  • Gettysburg Extension
  • Keystone Shortway
  • Northwest & Southwest Extension
  • Philadelphia Loop Extension
  • Scranton Extension
Historical
  • Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike
  • Laurel Hill Tunnel
  • Negro Mountain Tunnel
  • Quemahoning Tunnel
  • Rays Hill Tunnel
  • Sideling Hill Tunnel
  • South Pennsylvania Railroad
Tolling systems
  • E-ZPass

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