The Lowry Hill Tunnel is a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

in length accommodating the Interstate 94 (I-94) freeway near downtown

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

that was completed in late 1971. It is placed at a near-right-angle turn in the highway, forcing the three lanes of traffic in each direction to slow down. The advised speed is . Although constructed as a tunnel through rock, the surface a few yards above is covered with roadways. The tunnel functions as if it were the underpass under a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

which carries

Hennepin Avenue Hennepin Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery (at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown District of Southwest Minneapolis, through the Virginia Triangle, the former "Bottleneck" a ...

Lyndale Avenue Lyndale Avenue is a major street in the U.S. state of Minnesota that traverses the cities of Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, Richfield, and Bloomington. A noncontiguous portion also exists in Faribault, part of Highway 21. There are several co ...

, and various ramps over I-94. Opened in November 1971, this tunnel was built with $31 million to help fix the congestion of 30,000 vehicles a day. Today, the Lowry Hill Tunnel sees an average of 185,000 vehicles pass through it each day, 54% more than the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned New Y ...

that connects New Jersey to Manhattan. Lowry Hill Tunnel westbound

References

External links

Info about Minneapolis Interstate Highways
{{coord, 44.96583, -93.288217, type:city, format=dms, display=title Tunnels in Minnesota Transportation buildings and structures in Minneapolis Interstate 94 Tunnels completed in 1971 Road tunnels in the United States