FB&CT Trail - Cartwright Tunnel

Photos 

Photo taken by The Goat

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

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BH Photo #247824

Map 

Street View 

Description 

An effort to repair and restore North Dakota’s only railroad tunnel is underway. The former Great Northern Railway Cartwright Tunnel near the North Dakota-Montana border has fallen into disrepair and a local group is hoping to save it from collapse, the Associated Press reports.

The tunnel was last used in the 1980s and it and the nearby Fairview Lift Bridge were added to the National Historic Registry in 1997. The tunnel is currently open but people are worried that if its condition were to deteriorate more, it may have to be closed. "It's a very popular site and we would hate to see where it would ever come to a point where it would have to be closed to the public," says Fairview (Mont.) Chamber of Commerce member Kerry Finsaas.

An engineering assessment determined it would cost at least $500,000 to stabilize the tunnel. Area residents are hoping to raise funds to save it in the coming months.

Facts 

Overview

Tunnel on Trail

Location

McKenzie County, North Dakota

Status

Open to pedestrians only

History

Built 1912

Railroads

- Great Northern Railway (GN)
- Rail-to-trail

Design

Tunnel

Dimensions

Total length: 1,458.0 ft.

Approximate latitude, longitude

+47.85913, -103.96241   (decimal degrees)
47°51'33" N, 103°57'45" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

13/577609/5301164 (zone/easting/northing)

Quadrangle map:

Cartwright

Inventory number

BH 55391 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Update Log 

• December 18, 2017: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Added news story on campaign to preserve tunnel
• April 28, 2017: New Street View added by Ethan Akerly
• January 30, 2013: Added by Luke Harden

Related Bridges 

• FB&CT Trail - Fairview Lift Bridge (Upstream) - On same former railroad line a short distance away

Sources 

• Luke
• Ethan Akerly
• Alexander D. Mitchell IV

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