History The Ghost Highway-the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

Hauntingly cool.

 

are you aloud to go exploring? or do u have to go stealth?

 

You may like this... We have a local byway that while annoying and a block from part of our bike trail, I don't fully blame them for riding down. Its out of the beaten path route, nothing back there but a strip mine and a construction supply place for the most part. The problem is these fools run three and four wide down the road so there is no where to go if you come up on them going over a hill and there is traffic driving the other way.

I've seen some them go from riding the berm to clumping together, blocking the road on purpose so you can not pass them. They tried it on a county asphalt truck once and wound up in the ditch when the driver down shifted and hit the throttle in response.

 

completely awesome. Thanks for posting this.

-scott noteboom

 

thanks i really needed that. its always nice to escape for just a LITTLE BIT.

 

Traveled that road in 1961 in my dad's '57 Fairlane from St Louis to Baltimore....My brother was 3 or 4 at the time and all he kept saying was " I need more tunnel"....my mom still talks about that....

 

Can't wait to hear the cab stacks on my truck echo through the Lehigh Valley Tunnel on the way to the Pocono Drag Lodge reunion.

 

I think you are on to something here.
Would be a fun hang out spot for a show/get together.

 

cool post - been a long time since I was on that highway. I didn't realize part of it was abandoned.

 

Very good Thread. Interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

From my huge collection...

~Jason

 

Awesome.

 

Sounds like a great idea. Try contacting the people who operate the trail: http://www.pike2bike.org/ They're a non-profit; maybe they'll do it for a donation. Yeah, a benefit show!

Abomination, thanks for sharing your collection! Very cool.

Then:


Now

 

Wow...that place is sssooooo cool...and kinda spooky too...

 

Cool Pictures. I hope to explore this stretch of road someday. Rode through here in 1965 when I was 8. I remember passing through the two bypassed tunnels. I wondered what happened to them years later when I drove through this area myself.

 

This road should be opened back up. Just for pre -68 cars. Just to keep it the way it was.

 

I run the Pike quite often. Seeing the pics of the service areas from the 40's I see they are the original buildings still in use at some plazas. They are now tearing down the old plazas and rebuilding. I d say the tunnels havent been touched much since then either with big areas of tiles missing. Interesting thread.

 

WOW. I love stuff like this. Great post. Thanks so much.

 

Very cool history. Does anybody know what is gonna happen to it?

 

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing! Urban exploring is way cool.

Should be featured on one of my favorite shows; "Cities of the Underworld" on the History Channel.

 

I am fascinated by 'urban decay', something we dont get here in Oz. As soon as something is closed down its gone. About the best are a few stretches of highway that has been bypassed but nothing remotely as interesting as this!
It blows my mind that they would just leave it all behind, I know a group (In the US)that 'investigates' old buildings (Ok, there ghost hunters), they have been spending time at an abandoned hospital, the place closed and everyone walked out. There is still medical records in there!
Crazy stuff.
I love it,
Doc.

 

Doc, there's a section of the highway between Sydney and Wollongong that was bypassed when they built a big new one maybe 30 years ago. It's south of Sutherland but before Helensburg, I can't remamber any more detail than that. I used to have fun on the old two lane road in the Willys, lots of twisty bits, then I used to see it sort of hiding in the bushes as I cruised the highway. I don't think they could close it completely, there were a few odd houses in the bush, so I guess it'd still be there.

Cheers,Glen.

 

an ABANDONED tunnel? I'm on my way there, as we speak.
Also, check out the one just north of Exit 159 on I-81 at Nuangola, Pa -- an old abandoned, sealed railroad tunnel. Also, there's a junkyard off the same exit that has plenty of rusted 40's and 50's hulks.

 

Very cool post. Nice pictures and a cool story. I've been down the PA Turnpike, but I didn't know they bypassed a stretch like that!

Oh yeah... I'll second that! Same goes for Globe, AZ.... don't ask how I know....

 

That is cool, it reminds me of the first time I drove on Route 66 out of Shamrock, TX. There was grass growing in the cracks in the pavement, it was the oddest thing to see grass growing on the road.

 

Really nice thread. My kind of place...ghost

 

I drive the 'best' remaining section of that road every day. A climbing ess curve; decreasing radius on the last turn when going downhill. Nicely banked, too. Handling test each time.

But wasn't the Interboro Parkway in NYC (between Brookly and Queens) also one of the first? Also still in use with great ess curves (through the cemetary!). I remember when the center guard rail was a piece of 3" pipe mounted at ground level.

 

I love stuff like this. Just so weird that all the time and money spent and it was abandoned.

I didn't read all the posts but did a new highway bring this to extinction?

Thanks for the cool post.

 

>>>But wasn't the Interboro Parkway in NYC (between Brookly and Queens) also one of the first?>>>

I was under the impression that the Merritt Parkway (originally called the Merritt Highway) in CT was supposedly the first actual, limited access, divided highway built in the US.

Regardless, GREAT story on those tunnels. Thanks for sharing, cool story

Al in CT

 

Here's more on the Laurel Hill Tunnel:
http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup_the_mystery_of_the_secret_laurel_hill_tunnel