Sideling Hill Tunnel
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | South Penn abandoned |
| Location | Blueridge Mountain Fulton County, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°02′53″N 78°07′45″W / 40.048056°N 78.129167°WCoordinates: 40°02′53″N 78°07′45″W / 40.048056°N 78.129167°W |
| Status |
Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Currently Pike2Bike Trail |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 1881, railway 1938, highway |
| Constructed | 1881–85, railway 1938–40, highway |
| Opened | October 1, 1940 |
| Closed | November 26, 1968, I-76 |
| Owner | South Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission abandoned Pike2Bike Trail |
| Character | Hiking, biking and skateboard trail |
| Technical | |
| Length | 6,662 ft (2,031 m) -railway 6,782 feet (2,067 m) -highway |
| No. of lanes | 2 |
| Lowest elevation | 1,277 ft (389 m) |
Sideling Hill Tunnel is one of three original Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels abandoned (this one in 1968) after two massive realignment projects. The others are nearby Rays Hill Tunnel, and farther west, the Laurel Hill Tunnel. It was less expensive to realign the Turnpike than to bore a second tube for four lane traffic. Sideling Hill Tunnel is 6,782 feet (2,067 m) long. It was the longest of the original tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Ray's Hill Tunnel and Sideling Hill Tunnel are now part of the Pike2Bike Trail. Together, the two tunnels as well as the roadway are commonly known as the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike.
From the Turnpike's opening in 1940 until the realignment projects, the tunnels were bottlenecks; opposing traffic in the same tubes reduced speeds. Four other tunnels on the Turnpike – Allegheny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, and Blue Mountain – each had a second tube bored, the least expensive option. All of the original tunnels except for the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel were part of "Vanderbilt's Folly", the never-completed South Pennsylvania Railroad.
The Sideling Hill Tunnel's original plans date back to the year 1881, when surveying for the South Pennsylvania Railroad began. Construction began that year, with the plans for nine brand-new tunnels, most of which were drilled by 1885. The Sideling Hill Tunnel was built before December 1884 by John O'Brien, an engineer from Rhinebeck, New York. On July 6, 1885, a blast occurred at the end of the Sideling Hill Tunnel. The blast, which was caused by dynamite, claimed the lives of three people, including O'Brien. Several other people were injured in the blast. Just sixteen days later, another blast occurred in the tunnel, taking the lives of a Hungarian worker, along with two African-Americans, two Italians, and one Irishman. The bodies were so cut by the rocks during the blast, that the people were almost unidentifiable. Unfortunately William H. Vanderbilt, who had started the plans for the railroad, noticed that expenses began to inflate, and he began to look for a second way to work things out. The construction was abandoned and never finished. In 1938, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission took over the entire grade of the abandoned railway.
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