The Negro Mountain 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 ...

located in

Negro Mountain Negro Mountain is a long ridge of the Allegheny Mountains in the eastern United States, stretching from Deep Creek Lake in Maryland north to the Casselman River in Pennsylvania. The summit, Mount Davis, is the highest point (3,213 feet) in Pe ...

Somerset County, Pennsylvania Somerset County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania German: ''Somerset Kaundi'') is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the po ...

. It was built by

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

as part of the proposed but never completed

South Pennsylvania Railroad The South Pennsylvania Railroad is the name given to two proposed, but never completed, Pennsylvania railroads in the nineteenth century. Parts of the right of way for the second South Pennsylvania Railroad were reused for the Pennsylvania Turnpik ...

, which over time became known as " Vanderbilt's Folly". The tunnel is located near milepost 116.7 on the

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

where it is ten miles east of the

Quemahoning Tunnel The Quemahoning Tunnel was a tunnel that was constructed for use on the stillborn South Pennsylvania Railroad. The tunnel was located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania near the 106.3 milemarker of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. While the South Penn ...

(also built for the railroad but never used by the Turnpike), 16 miles east of the

Laurel Hill Tunnel Laurel Hill Tunnel is a tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that was bypassed and abandoned in 1964. It is bored through Laurel Ridge, spanning the border of Westmoreland and Somerset counties. Its western portal may be seen from the eastboun ...

(used by the Turnpike but bypassed in 1964), and seven miles west of the

Allegheny Mountain Tunnel The Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel carrying the Pennsylvania Turnpike through the Allegheny Mountains. At this point, the Turnpike carries Interstates 70 and 76. When the tunnel was built, it was considered an "engineering ...

currently used by the Turnpike. When the newly formed

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) is an agency created in 1937 to construct, finance, operate, and maintain the Pennsylvania Turnpike (both the mainline and the Northeast Extension). The commission consists of five members. Four membe ...

bought the South Pennsylvania Railroad's right-of-way in 1937, the Turnpike considered using the Negro Mountain Tunnel, but instead bypassed it, making it one of six tunnels bypassed along the highway, including Quemahoning and the original Allegheny Mountain Tunnel due to structural concerns, plus three used by the Turnpike but later abandoned.

External links

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Photos of the tunnel
Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Somerset County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission {{US-tunnel-stub