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Laurel Hill Tunnel

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania
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Photo 

Photo taken by Greg Hall

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Map 

Facts 

Overview
Tunnel on Abandoned alignment of Pennsylvania Turnpike
Location
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Status
Closed to all traffic and used to test racecar aerodynamics. Chip Ganassi Racing.
History
Begun c.1885 by S. Pennsylvania RR; completed 1940 by Penna. Tpk. Comm.; bypassed and abandoned in 1964
Builder
- Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Design
Tunnel
Dimensions
Total length: 4,541.0 ft. (0.9 mi.)
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.5 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.09730, -79.22130   (decimal degrees)
40°05'50" N, 79°13'17" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/651617/4440072 (zone/easting/northing)
Elevation
2775 ft. above sea level
USGS topographic map
Bakersville
Inventory number
BH 37606 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1940 (689)
Built during 1940s (2,798)
Closed (2,075)
Owned by bridge authority (139)
Pennsylvania (3,038)
Pennsylvania Turnpike (13)
 Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (7)
Somerset County, Pennsylvania (70)
South Pennsylvania Railroad (6)
Total length over 2500 feet (587)
Tunnel (542)
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (50)

Update Log 

  • September 14, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Indicated reuse of tunnel for auto testing.
  • August 15, 2009: Updated by Greg Hall: added GPS coordinates
  • October 13, 2008: Added by Rick Mattioni

Sources 

  • Rick Mattioni
  • Greg Hall - cyclebay [at] aol [dot] com
  • Ed Hollowell - erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com
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Comments 

Laurel Hill Tunnel
Posted November 17, 2009, by John (scar_cle [at] yahoo [dot] com)

This tunnell is owned by Chip ganassi racing.

It is not open to the public

Laurel Hill Tunnel
Posted August 17, 2009, by Ian Anderson (macsignals [at] gmail [dot] com)

What in the bleep is the PTC doing there?