The Mega Cavern is a former

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. The

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

stretches under parts of the Watterson Expressway and the

Louisville Zoo The Louisville Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Louisville Zoo, is a zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, situated in the city's Poplar Level neighborhood. Founded in 1969, the "State Zoo of Kentucky" currently exhibits over 1,700 animals in na ...

. Due to its support structures, it is classified as a

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

and is the largest building in Kentucky. The cavern is used for business, storage, recycling, and tourism, with offerings including

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

-guided tours,

zipline A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on a slope. It is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bott ...

tours, a ropes course, an annual holiday lights display, and, previously, a mountain bike park

Description

The Mega Cavern is a structure located in

. About underground, the

stretches under parts of the Watterson Expressway and the

. Due to its support structures, it is classified as a

and is the largest building in Kentucky.

History and use

Limestone mine

The cavern started as Louisville Crushed Stone. It was created by a massive

limestone quarry Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when th ...

—with miners blasting out rock for over 42 years during the middle of the 20th century. It was acquired in 1989 by private investors who saw the potential to develop a portion of the cavern into an environmentally-conscious high security commercial storage facility.

Renovation

Business park

Exhausted of its mineable limestone, the property was purchased by Jim Lowry, Tom Tyler and Don Tyler in 1989 to be made into a "high-security business park". In February 2015, the cavern housed 12 businesses in around .

Storage

Because of its relatively stable temperature around and humidity, the cavern was renovated to be used for storage. To be useful, the floor was raised by filling in parts of the mine with

recycled materials Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...

. A fire-resistant safety corridor was also installed as an emergency exit. Various rooms are located throughout the cavern to store various items from

road salt Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g/ ...

and vehicles to pretzels and amusement park rides.

Tourism

In 2009, the Mega Cavern began offering a

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

-drawn tour of the area where the floor had been raised. Around Christmas, the cavern hosts "Lights Under Louisville" where visitors can drive through the cavern and view lighted holiday decorations; it is the largest such underground display in the world. Several years later, a

tour and a ropes course were added to the offerings. With national and international attention, an underground

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

park was opened to riders of all skill levels in February 2015. It was designed by Joe Prisel with families in mind, and constructed in over 3 months. With 45 trails in of the cavern's space, it was the world's largest indoor bicycle park. The of trails (over interconnected) include " jump lines,

pump track A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping"—generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing. It was originally designed for the mountain bi ...

dual slalom Dual slalom is a mountain bike racing discipline similar to 4X racing. It consists of two racers racing two almost identical tracks next to each other down a slope. The courses are usually short; one run lasting about 30 seconds. It is filled w ...

, BMX, cross country, and

singletrack Singletrack (or single track) describes a type of mountain biking trail that is approximately the width of the bike. It contrasts with double-track or fire road which is wide enough for four-wheeled off-road vehicles. It is often smooth and flow ...

" and signs to indicate the difficulty of the trails. Bike rentals were planned to be offered in the near future. Partially due to the Mega Cavern's recycling business that filled the cave, trails were built with in layers with a rough bottom, sticky, red clay middle, and "good stuff" on top. The bike park is permanently closed.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 38.201585, -85.704127, display=title Sports venues in Louisville, Kentucky Caves of Kentucky Limestone caves Bike paths in Kentucky Quarries in the United States Former mines in the United States Tourist attractions in Louisville, Kentucky Landforms of Louisville, Kentucky