History of the Abandoned Section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Originally opened in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike follows the never-finished railroad line of the “South Pennsylvania Railroad.” It goes through 7 tunnels originally built for the railroad. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was an early example of a concept called “long-distance limited-access highways” and later served as an example of what to base the Interstate System on. Today, only 4 tunnels of the original 7 are still in service via “bypass projects” conducted by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC). This was due to high demand in traffic in the 1950s as cars became more commonplace. The PTC had to conduct studies to see what costs would be involved in adding an extra two-lane tube to all 7 tunnels, or what other methods could be used at a cheaper cost. Ultimately, the Commission found that bypassing 13 miles of road by Breezewood, PA, would be cheaper than adding extra tubes at the Rays Hill Tunnel and the Sideling Hill Tunnel, which were both along that 13-mile stretch of road. After abandonment, the stretch of road has had many uses, including emissions testing in the 1970s, military storage, and even training soldiers for the Iraq War in the early 2000s. In 2001, the 13-mile stretch of Turnpike was sold to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy (SAC) for $1 which plans to turn the turnpike into a bike path