The Memorial Tunnel is a two-lane vehicular

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 ...

that formerly carried the

West Virginia Turnpike West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

through/under Paint Creek Mountain in Standard, West Virginia in

Kanawha County Kanawha County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charlest ...

. Closed to interstate traffic since 1987, the tunnel serves as the Center for National Response for military first responders to train for various situations that may arise in such a location without alarming the general public.

History

Construction of the Memorial Tunnel began in 1952. It opened to traffic on November 8, 1954, at a final cost of $5 million. Its construction required moving of earth, and it was the first tunnel in the nation to have

closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

monitoring. At the time, the West Virginia Turnpike was referred to as "88 miles of miracle".

Turnpike widening

From 1976 to 1983, the increasingly heavily traveled Turnpike was widened from two lanes to four over its entire length with the exception of the Memorial Tunnel. This caused bottlenecks where the newly widened divided highway transitioned to the two-lane, two-way tunnel, which also had a lower speed limit. Congestion was especially pronounced during periods with increased traffic, such as holiday seasons.

Tunnel bypass

Instead of upgrading and widening the tunnel, it was bypassed on a new alignment that also bypassed Bender Bridge over Paint Creek. As part of the $35 million bypass project, of earth and 300,000 tons of coal were removed from the mountain. The last vehicle passed through the tunnel on July 7, 1987, after which it was closed to traffic.

Alternate use

Between 1992 and 1995, the Department of Transportation entered a deal with the state to utilize the abandoned tunnel for smoke, fire and ventilation experiments. These experiments were carried out to design better developed ventilation systems for the tunnels being constructed as part of the

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4& ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

; the results of the tests were also incorporated into the design of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

. These experiments also resulted in the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

allowing jet fans for ventilation in tunnel construction, which was a significant change to their original ventilation designs. The lasting legacy of the ''Memorial Tunnel Fire Test Program'' is in both changes in ceilings materials used in tunnel construction as well in the approved use of jet fans for ventilation during construction. By 2000, the tunnel had been selected as the location where the Center for National Response would conduct anti-terrorism training exercises. The facilities offered in the center included: * A rubble area to simulate collapsed buildings * An emergency egress trainer * A subway station, complete with of track and two subway cars from Boston's Green Line * A drug enforcement section * A highway tunnel section, complete with a

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. P ...

bus, firetrucks, a tractor-trailer and other vehicles * A 50-car pileup wreck complete with hazardous materials Groups from around the country sent personnel to West Virginia to train in the facility. In all, about 160,000 first responders have been trained by West Virginians. After 20 years of operating as the Center for National Response, the

West Virginia National Guard The West Virginia National Guard is a part of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. It comprises the West Virginia Army National Guard and the West Virginia Air National Guard. Unlike some states, West Virginia does ...

announced in February, 2022 that the tunnel would be converted to a mushroom farm operated by Hernshaw Farms.

References

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External links