Nothing lasts forever, including – and perhaps especially – highways. One fine example of this is a 21km section of the original 580km Pennsylvania Turnpike in the US state of Pennsylvania.
As the video shows, vegetation, animals and cyclists have slowly been reclaiming part of what was hailed as an engineering masterpiece when it was opened in 1940.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission sold most of the disused section to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy for $1 in 2001. The crumbling concrete strip is now managed by Friends of the Pike 2 Bike, a coalition of non-profit groups.
Many videos exist of people walking and bicycling down the road and the images, while at once very scenic, are also very melancholic.
It was called the Tunnel Highway because of its seven tunnels: Blue Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, Allegheny Mountain and Laurel Hill. There was one tunnel through each mountain and the highway was reduced to a single lane in each direction through each tunnel. These tunnels were originally built as part of the South Pennsylvania Railroad. One short tunnel was bypassed during the original construction of the Turnpike.
By the late 1950s, the turnpike was heavily congested. To alleviate the situation, there was twinning of four tunnels - construction a second, parallel, two-lane tunnel – and also bypassing and closure of the other three.
The tunnelled section was abandoned in 1968 when a new bypass route was built uphill and parallel to it.
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As the video shows, vegetation, animals and cyclists have slowly been reclaiming part of what was hailed as an engineering masterpiece when it was opened in 1940.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission sold most of the disused section to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy for $1 in 2001. The crumbling concrete strip is now managed by Friends of the Pike 2 Bike, a coalition of non-profit groups.
Many videos exist of people walking and bicycling down the road and the images, while at once very scenic, are also very melancholic.
It was called the Tunnel Highway because of its seven tunnels: Blue Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, Allegheny Mountain and Laurel Hill. There was one tunnel through each mountain and the highway was reduced to a single lane in each direction through each tunnel. These tunnels were originally built as part of the South Pennsylvania Railroad. One short tunnel was bypassed during the original construction of the Turnpike.
By the late 1950s, the turnpike was heavily congested. To alleviate the situation, there was twinning of four tunnels - construction a second, parallel, two-lane tunnel – and also bypassing and closure of the other three.
The tunnelled section was abandoned in 1968 when a new bypass route was built uphill and parallel to it.
But all is not lost. Videos exist of
An especially good video shows how the tunnelled section
