History The Ghost Highway-the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

I live due south of Bedford and will look this up.Thanks for the great info and history lesson!!!

 

That's a cool story.

 

The great "Free State" spent $4 mil on bike trails down here and they still pedal thru town blocking traffic while the ultra-bike trails are less than 100 yards away!
Yep,it pisses me off that I pay road and vehicle taxes and they don't use what we all paid for?!
"Share the Roads" my ass! My hot rod tags haven't decreased in price...

 

beautiful stuff. what a country: all the planning, engineering, and labor to build such a road, through mountains, through forest. only in America is something like this used for 35 years & then discarded! seven tunnels through a friggin mountain. no wonder we are where we are folks.

 

Born in 1944 in Wellsville N.Y. right across the border from Pennsylvania I was a PA resident until I was about 8 years old. Some of my earliest memories are of traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It's been years since I 've been back but I'd sure like to make a trip out there again before the dirt nap.

Frank

 

Hah! That's what I was thinking! You know for all the complaints Pennsylvanians have about their roads-potholes, endless construction, congestion, etc. the PA Turnpike was a modern marvel and even a tourist attraction when it first opened. The interesting remembrances that some of the people here posted prove that. This was for me an interesting lesson about the time when people didn't take highways for granted.


The garage at the left of the tunnel openings contained a wrecker that could clear the tunnel at a moment's notice.

Information flyer printed in 1941




"There's nothing at all along the road except a gas station every 17 miles." (1944)
Joseph Topinka collection
http://www.pumpwarehouse.com/pat.html

 

Awesome topic/pics.
You can search for the tunnels by name on Google Earth- helps to see them in proximity to each other.

 

Good Post....I actually grew up in the area and remember skiping school one day back in the early 80's 3 of us had a back pack full of rolling rock on ice and walked Ray's tunnel I remember it being very quiet and DARK!! Another fact about the turnpike others may not know is the underground tunnel between the 2 travel plazas in Bedford (North Midway and South Midway) I worked for Howard Johnsons during my high school years and was always amazed with it........It was closed to the public but used by the plazas to transfer goods.

Thanks for bringing back some memories.

 

Love the history!

 

I love how the mechanical ventilation systems for the tunnels are featured on top the tunnel entrances behind glass walls. So often the beating mechanical hearts of our modern world are buried in basements or back rooms away from view, as though they were some kind of architectural monstrosity.

Thanks for posting this.

 

A very, very cool post. Thank you for taking the time....

 

That's really cool! Give it another 25 years or so and mother nature will have taken the road back completely. I'm surprised all the tunnels aren't leased out. We had an abandoned railway tunnel near where we lived a while back, and it was leased to a mushroom grower. Inside a tunnel like that is perfect humidity for growing mushies, and the tunnel was floor to roof, end to end with racks of growing tubs and machinery.

Cheers, Glen.

 

Great thread.

To get an idea of what the PA Turnpike was back in the 50's, imagine no interstates.

What that was like was ... I grew up near Pittsburgh. To travel to Florida you would take the turnpike to Breezewood then turn south. Driving directly south from Pittsburgh down through WV was not an option really. In fact, when the WV Turnpike openned it was called "the turnpike to nowhere." Actually, from nowhere to nowhere. Big difference today.

Glad to see so many of you had cars to drive the PA Turnpike ... I hitch-hiked ... usually to Fort Lauderdale ... dreaming of the cars I would own some day.

 

Awesome post thanks.

 

Awesome post! I think most people forget that the journey is the best part of the trip not the destination. I'm trying to instill that in my children. Although today major highways have less character than the highways and byways of the past. I do take highways when I need to make up time but I much prefer backroads.

 

This is a great post thank you. My wife thinks i ,am nuts reading stuff like this.

 

Is that Midway Station building still there??? VVVVVV

 

rtden :: Via Google Earth, looks like the building is still there, tho it has been added onto ('Street View' : obstructed by trees). If I've pinpinted it correctly, this Midway Service Plaza is due NE of Bedford PA, on the current PA TRNPK. This puts it about halfway between the Allegheny & Sideling Hill Tunnels. You can see the '3 box' shape of the building with it's chimneys. Hope that beautiful PA stonework hasn't been covered over in the name of "progress".

 

The Midway rest areas are both in operation, but both have been expanded over the years. Originally there was only one, I believe on the West bound side, with a tunnel under the Turnpike for folks from the opposite side to walk to it for refreshments.

 

that's awesome. good stuff.

 

Kool stuff!! Been on my "to do" list for some time.

 

There are 2 seasons on the PA turnpike .......Winter and .............CONSTRUCTION.

 

I travel once a year from MA to Hershey and I have to agree with this comment.

 

Haven't traveled the East/West much but have been on the Northeast Extension since it opened and it's been like that as long as I can remember. The tunnel on it was probably the last one changed to 4 lanes.

 

Hey! We have the same ones here in Minnesota.
I remember the taking the Pennsy Turnpike when we drove from Wichita to NYC in 1968. All those tunnels!! Something we don't have in Kansas. Or the mountains and all those trees. Pretty cool post.

 

Great post! Thanks!
I have fond memories of traveling up the NorthEast extension of the Pa. turnpike to my GrandMa's in my Dad's red 56 Country Squire and stopping at HoJo's for ice cream.
I drove my first car, a 51 chevy thru the Lehigh tunnel when it was just 2 lanes wide, one north and one south with no devider. It was scarey with 3 or 4 inches of play in my steering wheel, bald tires, and an 18 wheeler right on my ass!

 

yep,remember the turnpike back in the day,great post......richie.....

 

Just read this. Great post.

Cris

 

Very cool. Love the pics and story.

 

Very cool thread, thanks for sharing.