Pennsylvania Refused an 1885 Tunnel, Dug Its Own 85 Feet Away, and Is Now Abandoning That One Too

There is a hole in the side of Allegheny Mountain, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, eighty five feet from the tunnel the trucks use, up the bank from the service road at the eastern portal. It has been open since 1885. Nobody has ever driven through it or run a train through it, and the men who dug it put their tools down one afternoon and did not come back. Below it, six thousand feet of twin tube carries eleven million vehicles a year under the mountain. And in February of 2020 the Commission that owns that tunnel decided it would not be repaired, replaced or given a third tube. The mountain would be cut open over the top instead, and the two tubes would join the hole above them. This is usually told as a story about an old tunnel being replaced. It is not. It is the story of one mountain given up on three times, in 1885, in 1939 and in 2020, and of the holes each decision left behind. IF YOU ARE GOING UP THERE As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. DeLorme Pennsylvania Atlas and Gazetteer: https://amzn.to/4iu51zY WHERE IT IS The Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 76, in Somerset County, between the Somerset and Bedford interchanges, about twelve miles east of Somerset. You cannot stop on the Turnpike, and the 1885 bore above the eastern portal is on Turnpike property with entry prohibited. Do not try it. The three tunnels the Turnpike already abandoned: Rays Hill and Sideling Hill are on the Pike 2 Bike trail, reached from Breezewood, long and unlit, so bring a light. Laurel Hill is leased and closed. PRONUNCIATIONS Kittatinny: kit-uh-TIN-ee. Tuscarora: tus-kuh-ROR-uh. Juniata: joo-nee-AT-uh. A NOTE ON THE IMAGES The research and the script are mine, from primary records and archives, and the sources are listed below. Where no photograph of a place survives, and for this channel that is often, the images are period material from elsewhere rather than the place itself. SOURCES Mitchell Dakelman and Neal Schorr, The Pennsylvania Turnpike (2004). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 23, 2020, on the Commission's choice of the bypass alignment and the 332 and 628 million dollar estimates. WJAC-TV, October 22, 2013, on the decision to replace the tunnel. Pittsburgh Union Progress, September 29, 2024, on the Somerset public meeting. Roads and Bridges, May 7, 2026, and Pennsylvania Capital-Star, May 8, 2026, on the cut dimensions and the opposition. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Allegheny Mountain project updates, February 19, 2026. Old Cars Weekly, "Pennsylvania Turnpike paved the way for today's interstates," on the 1938 to 1940 construction and the 1936 tunnel survey. Contemporary reporting on the South Pennsylvania Railroad, 1883 to 1885. IF YOU WERE THERE If you were in the westbound tube on the night of June 4, 2026, or your family worked on the Turnpike in 1939, or you have a photograph taken inside the 1885 bore, tell me in the comments or write to [email protected]. Old Alignment. Abandoned American roads, railroads and infrastructure. New video every other day. My other channel, Mob Docket. American organized crime from the court file and the newspaper of the day: @MobDocket #PennsylvaniaTurnpike #AbandonedTunnel #Pennsylvania