8th Street Tunnel

Map 

History 

The 8th Street Tunnel was first built in 1888 as a 1,100 ft. tunnel under downtown Kansas City Missouri, connecting the bluffs of the West Bottoms to 8th street and Delaware in downtown.
In 1903, the tunnel was enlarged, and expanded to a distance of 3,000 ft.
In 1962, the tunnel entrances were filled and capped with a vault, and the tunnel was abandoned.
In 1974, the tunnel was being researched for automobile use.
However, the tunnel was lost, and could not be found. It was lost until 2004, when two men of a survey team seen a metal object emerging from the ground. The two men, dug up the object and found it was the east vault to the tunnel.
The tunnel was opened and found to be intact, except for a caved in part under Interstate 35.
The tunnel was then sold to a private party, and now give tours of the tunnel in the summertime.

Facts 

Overview

Tunnel under downtown Kansas City Missouri and Interstate 35

Location

Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri

Status

Open to pedestrians for tour in summertime.

History

Built 1888; abandoned 1962, opened for tours in 2005

Design

Tunnel

Dimensions

Total length: 3,000.0 ft. (0.6 mi.)

Also called

West Bottoms streetcar tunnel

Approximate latitude, longitude

+39.10414, -94.59041   (decimal degrees)
39°06'15" N, 94°35'25" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

15/362482/4329537 (zone/easting/northing)

USGS topographic map

Kansas City

Inventory number

BH 36477 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Update Log 

• August 10, 2012: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "Railroad"
• July 18, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Edited status and added link
• April 24, 2008: Essay added by Max Johnson

Sources 

• Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
• Images from an Urban Exploration of the tunnel.

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