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The west portal of the Allegheny Tunnel, August, 1961
This photo was taken by my decidedly NOT road geeky father while he and Mom were on a road trip to the eastern USA and southern Ontario during the summer of 1961. (In fact, they still consider my interest in things like highways, railroads, maps and geography in general to be a 'useless' endeavor.) Seeing as my parents are both from northeast Wisconsin, they don't often have a need to use highway tunnels and they got all goo-goo eyed at the ones on the Turnpike. :-)
At the time, this was the second tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike as one went eastward on the highway. It is one of the four tunnels to have been widened during the mid-late 1960s. The inscription on the structure above the portal says 'Allegheny Mountain'.
(Photo © Dr. Bernard D.
Newman, Pittsburgh, PA)
Dr. Bernard D. Newman writes,
"This is the Pa. Turnpike Toll Booth that was in operation at the Fort Littleton interchange from 1940 to 1983. It currently is on display as a function of the Alle-Kiski Historical Society and is located just off of Route 28 near Turnpike Exit 5 "Allegheny Valley". As you can see, it is all original and rapidly deteriorating. This is the last original booth available for inspection by the public. Another original toll booth was dismantled from Willow Hill, also in 1983, and was taken to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. As of this date (June, 1999), it has not been reassembled for viewing. (Note the two sturdy logs, not part of the original installation, needed to support the overhang)."
The 1960s tunnel widening-elimination project
By the mid 1960s, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission decided to address the somewhat serious traffic bottlenecks that were developing at the entrances to their seven mainline tunnels. The otherwise 4 lane highway narrowed down to two lanes for each of them. Their choices were to either construct parallel tubes for the tunnels or, if possible, eliminate the tunnels entirely. After completing their engineering studies, the Commission opted to construct parallel tubes for four of their tunnels (Allegheny, Tuscarora, Kittatinny and Blue Mountain) and bypass the other three (Laurel Hill, Ray's Hill and Sideling Hill).
Below are the USGS Topographic maps of the two 'abandoned' sections of the Turnpike where the three tunnels were bypassed. These maps proceed from west to east, starting with the Laurel Hill tunnel area and then continuing to the Ray's Hill/Sideling Hill tunnels area, the latter starting at Breezewood, PA. I have highlighted the former roadways in orange.
A hearty 'Thank You' to Marc Fannin for his selflesss and indispensible assistance with the Laurel Hill Tunnel section of this website!!!! :-)
Laurel Hill Tunnel
The Laurel Hill Tunnel area. This is a fairly short relocation involving about 5 km of new four lane highway. Note the old railroad grade that starts just east of the relocation and diverges to the north of the highway. I do not yet know if that is in fact the old 'almost' New York Central grade on which much of the original Pennsylvania Turnpike was built.
A close up of the above map. The 'old railroad grade' starts at the right edge of this map (in the word 'PENNSYLVANIA'). The relocated highway crests about 45 meters above the elevation of the tunnel. Note the rather large 'spoils' piles on either side of the relocated highway cut, they are about 25 m high and 800 m long. The cut is over 30 m deep and 1.3 km long.
Ray's Hill/Sideling Hill Tunnels
The west end of the relocated section. The access roadway for I-70 at Breezewood is the 'old' Turnpike mainline.
The next image shows the remainder of the current I-70 access road. The 'old' Turnpike continues northeastward across US 30 and toward Ray's Hill tunnel. Note the remnants of the 'old' Breezewood interchange.
The section from Breezewood through Ray's Hill tunnel. Note that US 30 had to be relocated slightly westward where the 'new' Turnpike passes under it near the crest of Ray's Hill. The 'new' Turnpike mainline passes about 130 meters above the elevation of the tunnel.
The section between the Ray's Hill and Sideling Hill tunnels, note the man-made lake and the 'box canyon' northeast of the Ray's Hill tunnel portal.
A close up of the Sideling Hill tunnel area, note that the 'new' Turnpike crosses the tunnel near its east portal. Also note the former westbound service plaza about 1.5 km east of the tunnel, now used by the Pennsylvania State Police as a pistol range. The Sideling Hill tunnel was the longest on the pre-mid 1960s Pennsylvania Turnpike. The 'new' Turnpike mainline crests right under PA 915, about 175 meters above Sideling Hill tunnel.
This last image is of the section from the Sidling Hill Tunnel to the east end of the relocation. The 'new' service plaza is readily visible. Also note the local road that roughly follows the 'new' turnpike up the east side of Sideling Hill.
There are several good sites with more information and photos of these abandoned sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
John Burrick's
site has a good description of a visit to the area.
Michael Hale's site
and
Michael
R. Natale's site are both full of nice photos and observations of
this former roadway.
The interchange between I-70 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike is a curious anomoly of the Interstate Highway System. Sort of evolving into what it is today through the relocation project and the like, it is one of the few places on the I-system that has traffic signals on its marked route (the only others I know of are I-78 between the Holland Tunnel and the New Jersey Turnpike Extension in Jersey City, NJ; I-180 in Cheyenne, WY and eastbound I-676 at the west end of the Ben Franklin bridge in downtown Philadelphia, PA). I-70's route through Breezewood involves two 90 degree turns for the marked route at the intersections.
Breezewood is a MAJOR junction point on the interstate highway system. Much of the traffic that travels between Baltimore, MD, Washington, DC and points west gets on and off of the Turnpike here. Traffic has been known to back up for 5-10 km at peak holiday times.
I-70 here is a situation crying out for impovements!!!!
Here is what *I* would do to improve the I-70 connection at Breezewood:
Yes, it makes it look even weirder than it is now.
The 'old' Turnpike is in orange, my 'new' I-70 connection is in green. The horizontal map junction seam is at exactly 40 degrees north latitude.
This connection would involve about 3.5 km or so of new Interstate highway and is done in a way that I believe would have the least negative impact on the Breezewood area 'travellers' rest' roadside businesses of any of the possible alternatives.
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