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Fort Columbia Tunnel

Pacific County, Washington
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Photos 

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Fort Columbia Tunnel

Photo taken by Michael Goff on August 1, 2009

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East Portal

Photo taken by Michael Goff on August 1, 2009

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West Portal

Photo taken by Michael Goff on August 1, 2009

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Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Tunnel on US 101
Location
Pacific County, Washington
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1932
Design
Tunnel
Dimensions
Total length: 799.9 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.2 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+46.25186, -123.91923   (decimal degrees)
46°15'07" N, 123°55'09" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/429145/5122442 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Chinook
Inventory number
BH 34421 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Average daily traffic (as of 2002)
4,440

Categories 

Built 1932 (695)
Built during 1930s (8,170)
Have street view (8,178)
Open (26,685)
Owned by state (9,136)
Pacific County, Washington (23)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,625)
Tunnel (470)
US 101 (90)
Washington (766)

Update Log 

  • March 19, 2012: New Street View added by Craig Philpott
  • August 5, 2009: New photos from Michael Goff
  • June 11, 2009: Updated by Michael Goff: added minimum vertical clearance

Sources 

  • Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Craig Philpott - cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu
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Comments 

Fort Columbia Tunnel
Posted March 20, 2012, by Scott Gavin (fatpiecat2 [at] charter [dot] net)

The interesting thing about this tunnel is that it was originally built for the narrow gauge Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Co. railroad. After that worthy little railroad was abandoned and scrapped, the tunnel was enlarged and lined with concrete for the highway.

Fort Columbia Tunnel
Posted June 29, 2010, by Michael Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] odot [dot] state [dot] or [dot] us)

Darrin,

The 15.4' vertical clearance provided is from the Washington State DOT bridge log and is identified as the max vertical clearance. I just looked at the WSDOT bridge log again and they have updated there log and now provide a minimum clearance of 15'-2". I updated the measurement on this site to match the minimum.

HOWEVER, you should contact the WSDOT Commercial Vehicle division and have any questions answered by them since they should have diagrams made to the tunnel. Here is a link to there website.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/CommercialVehicle/

Fort Columbia Tunnel : shoulder vertical clearance
Posted June 28, 2010, by Darrin Skinner (skinner [at] skinner [dot] com)

Michael, I have basically the same question as Dave but for a large class A motorhome. Our rig is 13' tall so the center clearance of 15.4' you've provided is sufficient, but I'm worried about the vertical clearance at the shoulders. Can you provide that measurement as well? This will let me know if I need to drive down the center or not. Thanks! Darrin

Fort Columbia Tunnel
Posted June 10, 2009, by Dave Williamson (david [dot] g [dot] williamson [at] boeing [dot] com)

I have been asked if the Fort Columbia Tunnel can accomodate a travel trailer (height wise) with a A/C unit on top. My initial response was sure, but then I started to 2nd guess myself. Can you help me by providing the height of the tunnel?