The East Side Railroad Tunnel is on the East Side of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, and runs , under College Hill, from Gano Street to just west of Benefit Street. It was opened on November 16, 1908, at a cost of $2 million. The tunnel is currently abandoned and sealed, but a project has been suggested to reuse it for either rail or bus use.

History

Construction

The tunnel was first envisioned in 1903 as a more direct connection to the old

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, in the center of

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. Construction on the tunnel started in May 1906. One crew worked east from the Benefit Street entrance, and one worked west from the Gano Street entrance. The crews met on April 6, 1908, beneath Cooke St, one day earlier than expected, and their alignments were off by only . A total of nearly of material was excavated. The tunnel was opened for commuter rail service on the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

on November 15, 1908. The project also included the

Crook Point Bascule Bridge The Crook Point Bascule Bridge (or the Seekonk River Drawbridge) is a defunct Scherzer rolling lift railway bridge which spans the Seekonk River, connecting the city of Providence, Rhode Island, to the city of East Providence. Stuck in the open ...

over the

Seekonk River The Seekonk River is a tidal extension of the Providence River in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows approximately 8 km (5 mi). The name may be derived from an Algonquian word for skunk, or for black goose. The river is home to t ...

. The entire cost of the project, including the bridge, the tunnel, and the approach to Union Station, was $2 million. The tunnel allowed the closing of the Fox Point railroad station, which had served the city for 73 years.

Portals

The east portal is in Gano Street Park near the intersection of Gano Street and Amy Street. The west portal is adjacent to a parking lot, about 500 feet north of the west portal of the

East Side Trolley Tunnel The East Side Trolley Tunnel, also known as the East Side Transit Tunnel or the College Hill Tunnel, is a bi-directional tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island, originally built for trolley use in 1914, and now used for public transit buses. The Eas ...

. The portal is just north of Thomas Street, between North Main Street and Benefit Street.

Operation

Originally the tunnel had two tracks, electrified for the heavy electric passenger trains to Bristol, Rhode Island and Fall River, Massachusetts. These trains ran until 1934. Electrification was removed, but passenger trains ran to Bristol only until the 1938 hurricane. After the storm, only freight trains with the occasional fan trips on chartered passenger trains ran over the track southbound. Passenger trains also ran northward to the

Narragansett Park Narragansett Park was an American race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Beginnings On May 18, 1934, Rhode Island voters approved a measure legalizing parimutuel betting by an almost 3 to 1 margin. The following day, ...

horse racing track during the racing season; this ended in the early 1950s. In the 1950s, the south track was removed due to dwindling frequency of the freight trains. The ownership of the tunnel was transferred to the state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

in 1981. The last train passed through shortly after that.

1993 incident

On May 1, 1993, a group of students gathered at the western end of the tunnel below Benefit Street, to celebrate Beltain-

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

. The students had fires, wore masks, and beat drums until early in the morning. College security officers tried to break up the party. The students claimed the officers had no

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

in the tunnel. A fight broke out between one of the security officers and a student who refused to stop drumming. The city police were called, and by the time they had arrived the party had grown even larger. The police tried to break up the party with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

, but the students responded by throwing rocks and bricks. The police finally broke up the party by forming a riot line, and surrounding the students. The following day, the police claimed that they had found signs of "satanic rituals". The tunnel portals were soon blocked with

corrugated steel Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

, with small doors at either end; these doors were later welded shut. Since then, there have been sporadic attempts to re-open the site for art and performances.

Specifications

The tunnel is long, high above top of rail, and wide. The roof is made of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

References

External links

"The East Side Railroad Tunnel"
from Art in Ruins
"Burrowing development"
from the ''College Hill Independent''. * *{{HAER , survey=RI-29 , id=ri0396 , title=East Side Railroad Tunnel, Benefit Street to Seekonk River, Providence, Providence County, RI , photos=7 , data=3 , cap=1 Railroad tunnels in Rhode Island Transportation in Providence, Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Historic American Engineering Record in Rhode Island Tunnels completed in 1908 1908 establishments in Rhode Island Transportation buildings and structures in Providence County, Rhode Island