Bike the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike 10 miles in 7 Minutes!
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- Опубліковано 14 лис 2014
- I had a digital camera, and had to use UA-cam stablization technology, which is annoying, but it keeps the visual stable...
ADHD Version, I completed a bucket list item on 11/9/2014, and biked the abandoned section of the PA turnpike, bypassed Thanksgiving weekend, 1968. For 28 years this was a traffic bottleneck due to the close proximity of two single lane tunnels, Rays Hill and Sideling Hill. They also closed Cove Valley Service plaza, shown in the video as well. 10 miles of pedaling condensed into 7 -1/2 minutes, with no stops to film the fan rooms. All Biking. To get here, exit at Breezewood, turn right on US 30E, and park at Tannery Rd, about 1/2mile from the exit. Parts of this video were seen in the recent movie "the Road" Enjoy!
Part of the reason the tunnels are so narrow are their origins. They weren't bored for the PA Turnpike. They were bored for the South Pennsylvania Railroad, aka Vanderbilt's Folly, a stillborn railroad that never laid a single rail. The only things 'complete' were the tunnels (5 of 9 later recycled for the Turnpike--Allegheny had to be rebored 85 feet south of the original as it was deemed unstable)), the grade, and a few bridge piers in the Susquehanna River near/at Harrisburg, and even the tunnels were never actually holed-through, but were bored from both sides. The commission had to bore an additional distance ranging from 551 ft in Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel to 3,379 feet in Sideling Hill Tunnel. Additionally, the tunnels were planned to be double-tracked when excavation began, but as funding diminished, they narrowed to single-track width the further into the mountain they went. Still, utilizing them saved the Commission about $2M in 1935-1940.
Great video and so nice to see these roads of the past! One thing I enjoy about You Tube is this type of channels that people like yourself take the time to share pieces of our history. Thank you so much for taking me along I really enjoy your videos!
That's one bouncy square.
As far as squares go, I'd have to agree
It's on my bucket list, too. I haven't been on this stretch of road since I was 8 years old in 1965.
JM Besser I've been here.
Actually I've been past there in September of last year on the turnpike but never knew that was there.
These road and tunnel names brings me back to the 50's & 60's, while my parents would drive up from Virginia to see our grandparents in uniontown, pa.
I loved my Grandmother !!
Thanks for the video, I enjoyed going for the ride with you!
If the Cove Valley Service Plaza is the one I think it is there was a Howard Johnson's there where we had a perfectly terrible meal sometime in the mid 60's. I wish I could tell my dad that not only was the place closed but it was knocked down and that stretch of the Turnpike abandoned.
Ironically, the old pavement is much better than we have on PA roads today.
Lmao, too true. Only PennDOT can install a worn out road.
The Pennsylvania D.O.T. tested the asphalt on this abandon highway and determined that it's quality was much too good, so it was never used on actual roads. By using poor quality products, planned obsolesce allows for continued repairs which keeps UNION workers working. That is a sad fact about our government.
Well... there is also the fact that there is no traffic on this road, and traffic (especially big trucks) really beats up pavement.
Lol I am from the area and I would have to agree
Yes, more time was taken back in the day, pride was taken in manufacturing, unlike today how things are just made just to meet the code or specifications and sadly doesn't last like things from yesteryear💯
I probably drove thru those tunnels back in the 60's!
What happend? Why did they closed them down ?
julio alvaro you must not live around here. Bypassed instead of twinning the tunnels
To add to Stuffthats Gone, the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened up with two lanes each direction, but to go through the tunnels, the turnpike went down to single-lane. By the 1960s, traffic had increased such that the single-lane tunnels could not handle the traffic, so the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission decided to build a second tunnel at four of the seven sites, then they put one direction through the new tunnel and the other through the old. The remaining three tunnels (two of which are in this video) were bypassed altogether with new highways going up and over the intersecting feature.
My parents, sisters, and I, used to drive to the Atlantic coast - Atlantic City, and both Ocean Cities, via the PA Turnpike between about 1955 and 1965. Over the decades, I drove through all of those tunnels, or was with my family when we all did so. Dad had me hand him his regular glasses (v.s. sunglasses) for the tunnels, so I had to keep an eye out for them.
I was through the single and double lane tunnels, and later the twin tube areas, until they started bypassing them. While there were safety issues, it was a nice break in the monotony of the drive. As were the Howard Johnsons restaurants every here and there. The food wasn't all that good, but beverages and gift shops kept us kids entertained. We used to go to Pittsburgh every few weeks, too - I had a couple of ancient great-aunts down there. I think I was on just about every road that could get you there, too. Their last residence was on Airbrake - half of what had been a six-apartment building. Kinda strange, but easy enough to find if you had some idea of where you were going.
I also had a chance to ride some of the streetcars - the younger of the aunts would take me (I don't remember taking my sisters along) here and there to shop, and that was the only way to get there - they didn't drive, and dad wouldn't let me have the car. (Did I mention that I was about six?) We had trackless trolleys here in Youngstown by then, and busses. As I got older, I used to take my grandmother down there to visit her sisters. Later, the former day job would send me to the airport to drop off Air Freight shipments. Couple of wrong turns one AM and I ended up on the runways.... They wouldn't like that now.
I think I know five or six ways to get to the airport now. Once in a while I would take one of the stranger ones just for the heck of it if I was not in a hurry. More than a few "where the heck are you going" from passengers....
Great job!
I have been watching some of your videos and I LOVE how you give a brief history of these places. Really enjoyed it!!!
I have walked through Sideling Hill Tunnel without any lights. It is a particularly surreal yet tranquil experience.
Wow! Great footage. Old historic abandoned roads are very interesting. You guys were quite brave to go thru the long dark tunnel!😮
Pennsylvania is loaded with abandoned places
Charles Michael Rinehart YUP
Like Cookville near Blairsville
Rays Hill tunnel was the shortest of the original seven and Sideling Hill tunnel was the longest. I remember noting the length of each tunnel as we drove through them in 1967. I even remember when Laurel Hill tunnel was still in use, but I was only 5 1/2 when we drove through it in 1962.
Um - that looks like serial killer campsite territory. I'd be too scared to go there. Even with a crowd of people, because I'd feel that we as a crowd were being subject to some government target group out there in the desolation. Yikes! Glad you scratched one off your bucket list. So satisfying.
Having grown up in Philadelphia, to parents who were from the midwest, I very well may have gone through both tunnels at some point in my life. Thanks for sharing maybe my brain will recall old memories of riding in the back of our Ford Galaxie and stopping at "the cove"......
I've seen many completely overgrown old roads east of Pittsburgh. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for posting, enjoyed it very much !!
Thank you for sharing this bucket list trip!
you are not seeing the other end. you are seeing light reflected off the ceiling of Sideling Hill Tunnel. Sideling has a slight incline in each direction.
As a boy in July of 1956, my family drove to Washington D.C. from Cleveland in a 1950 Ford. Over 100 degrees in the car with a brother and sister in the back seat with me. There was a head-on crash in the Ray's Hill tunnel that took the lives of seven people and we waited on that highway for 6 and a half hours while the authorities cleared the wreckage. That incident has stayed with me all of my life - overshadowing Washington and everything else that happened that summer. Very interesting, if not spooky, to see it again all these years later.
Great video, thanks!
Even though I’m from Pittsburgh and was born in the early 1950s, the first time I was on the PA Turnpike was in the summer of 1967, and that was going westward into Ohio. My family regarded the turnpike as very dangerous, so we used other routes, primarily US Routes 22 or 30, to travel eastward.
By the time I drove eastbound toward Philadelphia (and college), it was 1970, after the Rays Hill and Sideling HIll tunnels had been bypassed. A college friend pointed out the abandoned roadway, then easily visible from the new alignment, that included these tunnels.
last year i road my tricycle through sideling but thats all the father i got, this year just like you i have a bucket list to dol the whole abandoned turnpike, a lot of people i know didn't know this existed till i told them about it, nice video though i love watching your videos, they peak my history interests.
I wanna go!! Thank you for sharing thus gem.
Excellent video, love the tunnels!
Great Video.
I am 50yrs old,
and It's interesting too see what a Four Lane Road Looks Like After 46 years.
p.s. I'm in Chicago IL ; nice video 😎
Great video, funny seeing the box caused by the anti-shake flying around the screen lol
I had no idea I'd see you on this channel!
VWestlife I had no idea I'd see you here!
VWestlife
Enjoyed the video! Nice job.
Does anyone remember often seeing vehicular accidents with carnage along the Penna turnpike and interstates?
this looks amazing
Great video! Makes me want to take up biking.
if you're gonna do more of these videos, and please do, i'd strongly suggest getting a GOPRO HERO 8 OR 9. the image stabilizer in the hero 8 and above is a game changer. i used to make cycling videos 10 years ago with my GOPRO HERO 2. and they looked great when i was coasting or going downhill. but pedalling it was too herky jerky. i appreciate the image stablizer you put on this thing, but the bounching margins on the sides are a real distraction.
wow ! awesome video.
At 4:49 in the video there is a guy tagging the wall of the tunnel.... also the Cove Valley Service Plaza had a pull off and a tunnel under the Turnpike so you didn't have to cross the highway to go to the Howard Johnsons Restaurant.... Good Ice Cream, Milkshakes, sandwiches and fries... terrible meals....
Cove Valley had a tunnel under the turnpike? That would be new information to me. Would you be thinking of Midway service plaza between Breezewood and Bedford (which I miss if I follow US 30, itself a good road through that area)?
Good spotting!!!!!
That's the Midway Service plaza near Bedford that had the tunnel
I walked the Sideling Hill tunnel. Its the longest. When you get to the center you can't see either opening because of the curve of the Earth. Awesome! Climb up to the old offices and see the idled turbines that kept air moving through the tunnels back in the day.
It's not the curve of the Earth. They deliberately put a slope into the tunnel so water would drain out.
Thanks for the trip I biked this with my daughter about 2yrs ago. Got on at RT30 and went through Rays and Sidling, then turned around too. It is worth the stop. The vandelisim is a shame over the last 15 years though. Those are old railroad tunnels BTW I am pretty sure. The PRR never completed the route, so the nations first super highway got the right of way and the tunnels on the cheap. There is lots of history to be found on this. Thanks
It wasn't the PRR, it was the South Pennsylvania Railroad that never happened.
Yeah, I been there. thanks for the trip man
Cool vid..for some trivia, Rays Hill tunnel was the shortest and Sideling Hill tunnel was the longest on the Pa tpke system. Pa tpke was laid over a New York Central Railroad right of way..once known as Vanderbilt's Folly.
Went thru the tunnels many times as a child yes it was always scary with traffic so close
What's that flash at 6:02 in the tunnel? It could be the other entrance I suppose but it seems too fat away for that.
They guy that was with me...came thru later
I don't live that far from there. I should get my lazy azz on a bike and explore! Thanx for the video. Very interesting
Those Tunnels Look Spooky
& Dark , you need a light on your Bike.
I'm not from PA but like almost every other state, it has it's history with it's roads and very interesting.
@ 4:49 - what is moving on the right ?
I remember these things on thorresdale Ave in Philadelphia in 80'
I have up and inside the tunnels. Very cool if you have a good flashlight
This could easily be converted into a state park if PA would only invest a small amount for infrastructure. Clean it up, light the tunnel, add some rest rooms and parking. No wonder PA is sinking on the League of American Bicyclists list of "Bicycle Friendly States." Lived there for 40 years and recently moved to CA where this would be a fully developed trail.
Hell no , then it just gets packed with yuppies. Enjoy it for what it is
Drove this when I was a little girl on the way to DC to Arlington after JFK was assassinated. Memories. Thanks.
An awesome video and thanks for sharing!! The Pa Turnpike Commission thought it was cheaper back in the 60's to build a bypass on top of those two mountains instead of twinning the tunnels. I have driven that section in the winter and it can be bad with snow, fog, ice fog and ice!! In the long run the valley route and twinning would have been a lot smarter. There is a crown in the middle of Sideling so called Hill tunnel and that is why you can not see from end to end, 6782 ft. long. Thanks again for sharing this video!!
Wasn’t one of the tunnels supposed to be blocked off
I'd be afraid some bears would be in that tunnel. or something.
Was just there this past evening. Still an amazing nostalgia trip. Shame the tagging is getting a little out of hand. I hope the owners can get some funding together before it becomes to far gone
May I ask what software you used to achieve the eventual image stabilization?
+Mel Ivey You Tubes offered Stablizer...figured better this way..
Its eerie to see abandoned sections of roads. Its weird how or why they would reroute a parkway but I guess they had some reason for doing it. Its just strange to see it.
you didn't go up in the venation units? i have pics from my trip
Crooked Hill that would be very cool to see.i would have explored every inch of those tunnels
We did, just didn't film as many others have done so
What video editing application did you use to apply video stabilization? It looks like it did a kick-butt job!
+andywolan UA-cam's offered option...little funky I know but kept the image stable
+Stuffthats Gone Indeed! I didn't know UA-cam could do such an excellent job with image stabilization.
Love to cruise down that turnpike going full speed on my dirt bike!!!!
Someday I'm going to drive my pick up through there
I've heard about this. Looks like a fun ride. Road or mountain bike?
We just did it, most are hybrid/trail bikes. A mountain bike would work, but I wouldn't take my road bike. You do find out how bad (or good) your light is! There is a fair bit of debris to look for.
Is it only open to bikes? I know of a couple Jeep groups that would enjoy the ride through.
Allen Mixell There are concrete barriers that prevent motorized vehicles, technically the stretch of land was sold to a subsidiary to make it into a formal bike trail and it's prohibited to all motorized vehicles, bikes and walking are the only options.
Are some of the old original tunnels still in use? Because I like how they designed the tunnels back then.
Allegheny, Tuscarora, Kittatinny, and Blue Mtn tunnels are still used today
madbengalsfan85 Laurel Hill Tunnel technically is too but it's privately owned for race testing or something along those lines
@@madbengalsfan85 Those 4 tunnels were twinned; so was Lehigh Tunnel on the Northeast Extension.
@@M51210 Yes, they use it as a wind tunnel.
I’m going there this spring with our mini bike. Hopefully it’s still rideable
I love all your videos. Even though i have never been there i feel fairly educated. This may sound weird but why does PA have so many abandoned roads. Did infrastructure get a major overall over the years.
Pennsylvania is an old state and was on the forefront of road building from 1913. Thus you get a lot of bypassed road alignments.
When the turnpike was built they used tunnels that were built for an abandoned railroad project. Those two lane tunnels were a big problem and it was determined it was cheaper to just bypass this part of the turnpike than to four lane these tunnels.
Wish I could find some abandoned turnpike in ohio. Nice video. Can only imagine how peaceful it was. Maybe not im the tunnels.
I don't know about Ohio (that turnpike has no tunnels), but West Virginia Turnpike (which used to be only 2 lanes) had a part shifted onto a new alignment, with the old alignment including a tunnel.
How do you get to that tunnel portal? I want to take pictures with my car and use that as a back drop
Sadly you can't get that close with a car. I have heard car events taking place at the site of the service plaza but they had to get special permission, and they still couldn't go out on the old road. Good directions here. www.septempontia.org/wiki/Sideling_Hill_Tunnel
Not possible
Awesome video. I seen your video on the quanahoming tunnel. I'm still try to locate the negro Mt tunnel
It's way down in a pit. You have to know exactly where it is.
Easy ATV access:
www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_010202.pdf
On the linked .pdf see page 6 for a map of Buchanan State Forest ATV trail. Points 15 & 16 are less than a mile from the abandoned strip of PA Turnpike. One of them, I don't recall which ( 16 I think), gives easy ATV access to the abandoned roadway. Someone told me about this abandoned strip of turnpike and a few months later I found this by accident. It was a neat experience hearing about it as if it was a myth and then finding it by accident and realizing where I was. Very cool.
+Nash1a Riding ATVs on the abandoned Turnpike is illegal. Bikes, horses, and walking are OK. Of course, the Sideling HIll ATV trail is legal for ATVs, but don't go from one to the other. Respect the rules, please.
Can you ride street bikes on this road ?
No.
If you mean bicycles yes, it's officially a bike path "Pike to Bike".
I enjoyed the video thank you for sharing. Can you do something about the square bouncing all over? It detracts from your video.
UA-cams stablization makes the makes the vid stable and the outside edges bouncy!
That was good
I wanna go biking here. Is it legal?
Yes it is!!
I even found a place that does tours, rents bikes, and has camping/cabin$!
(NOT affiliated!)
www.grouseland.net/pike-2-bike.html
that link no good ya get a 404
I always park at the Cove Valley Service Plaza end and go east to west
Why ? Theres much better access points
Nice vid. I'm not sure of the title but parts of some zombie movie were filmed in that area.
The Road
Really cool place. Gotta be careful in Rays Hill though. I fell into an open sewer grate in there and got a nasty scar just above my left foot that I’ll probably have for the rest of my life. I’m lucky I got my tetanus shots LOL
I am surprised that there are no people there??? Are there still any road that connect to this section of TP along the way? You'd think that in such areas, the homeless would set up camps.
This isnt the ghetto.
Surprised the Turnpike Commission didn't send you a bill.
Give it time and that will become the next graffiti Highway. At least you did not run into any black bear in the tunnel or hobos.
Is that some kind of strange filter you're using that's causing the shakey box? If so, I think it would work better to take it off. Maybe you can use Adobe Premiere to edit it out? Otherwise very interesting video!
Skip Dyver sorry. You tubes stabilizer
I want to go running on that!
Well at least those big old '70's Lincolns didng havd to travel thru those tunnels! Just bizarre how the Turnpike Commission or Penndot just left all those roads there instead of tearing everything up.
Why would they tear it up? That just costs money. Instead, they can use it to practice painting lines and test difference paving schemes.
wow thats could of been kept up but its still great for bikes and clean fun wow but so sad its empty ILL PRAY YOU ALL CAN MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF IT AMEN ALWAYS A FRIEND OF CARING PEOPLE
Where all the Pizzabarro's Pizza places? I miss them!!
Hybrid tires are fine on this trail a lot of it is decent asphalt
And, Breezewood doesn't want a direct connection for I-70. If that area wants tourists so badly, have I-70 go north from I-76/Pennsylvania Turnpike and then go south by Breezewood and cross the turnpike without a connection.
That area doesn't want nor need tourist. The town is set up for travelers passing through , that's it
This looks like a scene from Fallout 4.
ua-cam.com/video/OOP_QoizcWc/v-deo.html
Link to old 1953 footage of these tunnels.
I've been here.
Are you talking about Silent Hill the movie? 🤔
Gloria Davis A movie called "The Road" was filmed here.
en I think that you may have a real Pennsylvania accent! (this ol guy I knew had an original Washingtonian accent just like my aunt did!)..Rock n Roll! 'got a Raleigh 27" 12 speed (franchise)..cool.
I wish someone would clean that place up.
First turnpike, everybody learned from it.
About the end of the video, the median looked very narrow.
It was! ua-cam.com/video/OOP_QoizcWc/v-deo.html
Anyone know which Tunnel was used in the movie THE ROAD (the scene where the blood cult went thru with weird machines.?
One site I recognized is where the father and son spent the night with the old man (Robert Duvall). West side of Tuscarora mountain near that tunnel exit. You see a Mountain that looks like a giant breast.
That was the East portal of the Sideling hill tunnel where they filmed "The Road".
There's a homeless guy or something at the second tunnel.
Dang why don't you drive a car there is it a bit dangerous to? Or illegal?
There may be barriers to keep cars out.
I'm not a cyclists, can you still drive on this?
No. This is closed to the public since late 1968, when the bypass opened up. Although, I do personally support the reopening of the stretch to the public as either I-876 or PA-876, so long as the tunnels are still structurally sound and safe for traffic.
wtf who painted over all the graffiti on the eastern entrance to Sideling Hill? I was there in April 2014 last
They always repaint when they film movies there
4:48 wtf is that guy doing?
He might be looking for a Geocache
+spiritof350sb Photographing...he was with me
Tell the truth. You don't go there to ride bikes. You go there ride boys.