Approaching the abandoned Sideling Hill
#tunnel on foot during a snowstorm circa 2009. This is along The Old PA Pike (formerly "the abandoned turnpike"), a bypassed stretch of interstate that was turned into a rail trail.
Interstate? Into a "rail" trail? Yes, really! Much of the right of way for the Pennsylvania Turnpike was originally graded for the never-completed South Pennsylvania Railroad. This tunnel would have actually been dug by hand around 1883 - 1885!
Despite the completion of much grading and multiple tunnels (several of which are still in use today), the railroad failed before it ever started (look up Vanederbilt's Folly). In the 1930s it was repurposed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the tunnels were given the modern concrete finish you see here.
All of the tunnels were originally single lane (one lane each direction). This caused massive traffic jams and by the mid 1960s, all but three of the remaining tunnels had been twinned. Three tunnels -- Sideling Hill (this tunnel), Rays Hill, and Laurel Hill -- were bypassed instead.
Today this is a 13-mile stretch of interstate-grade road that you can bike and hike. Parts of the film The Road were filmed at the eastern portal of the Rays Hill tunnel, and the entire area has a very surreal, post-apocalyptic feel.
Along The Old PA Pike near Breezewood, PA
#railtrail #railroad #history #tunnel #Pennsylvania #PA