As part of the plans, exiting traffic would follow a short section of the old Turnpike to an at-grade intersection with US 30. The interchange with old-as-dust US 30 was situated at the western end of the soon-to-be-bypassed section, and a larger replacement interchange was included in the project. From west to east, this bypass would slowly ascend Ray’s Hill, run roughly parallel to the old turnpike through the highlands bridging the two ridges, then obliquely descend Sideling Hill to rejoin the mainline.Īerial view looking northeast: The lower original route is highlighted in orange, and the high-elevation bypass is highlighted in blue US 30 shown in white. The PTC decided to create a 13.5-mile bypass extending from a point on the existing Turnpike about three miles west of the Ray’s Hill Tunnel and rejoin the Turnpike mainline roughly three miles east of the Sideling Hill Tunnel. The PTC built a short bypass to circumvent Laurel Hill that opened in 1964, and construction of parallel tunnels at Allegheny, Tuscarora, Kittatinny, and Blue Mountain went underway in 1965 and ’66.Ī more “involved” solution was concocted for the remaining two tunnels, Ray’s Hill and Sideling Hill. Based on the studies, the PTC decided to build twin tunnels at Blue Mountain, Kittatinny, Tuscarora, and Allegheny and bypass Laurel Hill, Ray’s Hill, and Sideling Hill. In 1959, The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) conducted an engineering study assessing possible options to alleviate traffic problems at Laurel Hill and Allegheny Mountain, and additional studies on the other five tunnels soon followed. By this time, eastbound traffic backlogs became common at the Laurel Hill Tunnel, and congestion began to cause delays at other tunnels as well. From a meager 1.3 million vehicles in 1940, annual traffic grew exponentially to 4.4 million in 1950 and 31 million in 1960.

Turnpike planners were not concerned with potential bottlenecks these merge points could easily handle the ’40s modest traffic volumes.īut as postwar prosperity emerged and passenger rail declined, Turnpike traffic mushroomed.

For early Turnpike travelers, these seven tunnels were the motoring equivalent of commas, brief slowdowns to 35 punctuating countless miles of unfettered cruising.

While the length of the Turnpike was built to unheard of (at the time) construction standards-two travel lanes in each direction, a grass median dividing traffic, complete control of access-the tunnels could accommodate only one lane of traffic in each direction. When the Pennsylvania Turnpike first opened from Carlisle to Irwin in 1940, the new toll road was truly “America’s Tunnel Highway.” A trip from one end to the other would take a motorist through seven different tunnels: (from east to west) Blue Mountain, Kittatinny, Tuscarora, Sideling Hill, Ray’s Hill, Allegheny, and Laurel Hill. (Source: PA Turnpike Commission)Īnyone reading this probably knows the all about the history of the abandoned Turnpike, so I don’t really know why I’m even writing this, but anyway…. Original 1940s-era two-lane Turnpike tunnel.

Abandoned pa turnpike