The St. Louis Freight Tunnel is a historic railroad tunnel beneath Washington Avenue and Eighth Street in downtown

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Completed in 1874, it bypassed busy downtown streets between the

Eads Bridge The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is located on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, to the north, and t ...

and the rail yards in the

Mill Creek Valley Mill Creek Valley was a historic neighborhood located in the central corridor between 20th Street and Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. European settlement began in the 18th century with mills established along ''La Petite Rivière'' ...

. Today it carries MetroLink light rail trains.

History

City leaders wanted a wagon bridge to the heart of the city to highlight downtown St. Louis. Economics required that it be a railroad bridge, but there was no space for railroads on downtown streets. Because of this a tunnel was authorized to connect the Eads Bridge to the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

to the south (and later to the new

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 ...

). The designer of the Eads Bridge,

James B. Eads Captain James Buchanan Eads (May 23, 1820 – March 8, 1887) was a world-renowned American civil engineer and inventor, holding more than 50 patents. Eads' great Mississippi River Bridge at St. Louis was designated a National Historic Landmar ...

, worked out the specifications for the tunnel. It would be a “cut and cover” tunnel 4,880 ft long, 30 ft below street level. Several problems arose during construction of the bridge and tunnel including design changes, inflated land and labor costs, and renegotiated contracts that escalated construction costs 46% over initial estimates. Despite this, the tunnel between the Eads Bridge and the Mill Creek Valley was completed by June 24, 1874 and the bridge would formally open less than a month later on July 4. A smokestack with a fan that pulled smoke from the tunnel was built near St. Charles Street and has since been demolished. When it first opened, the tunnel had few users and had already been spun off as the St. Louis Tunnel Railroad Company led by William Taussig. Rail companies at the time did not have licenses to operate in Missouri and did not rush to get them. Because of this, in 1875, the company defaulted on its debts and a federal court appointed J.P. Morgan and Solon Humphreys as receivers. In 1875, Taussig would supervise the opening of the first Union Depot on Poplar Street, between 11th and 12th streets near the mouth of the tunnel. In 1878, the newly formed St. Louis Bridge Company purchased the bridge and tunnel out of bankruptcy for $2 million, about a third of its original cost, then transferred it in 1880 to interests controlled by

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...

. In 1889, Gould would be instrumental in the creation of the

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a Class III switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. It is co-owned by five of the six Class I railroads that reach the city. Present ope ...

(TRRA). He died in 1892, but his involvement in the TRRA led to the construction of

in 1894. In 1974, due to the changing dimensions of railroad cars, the tunnel saw its last train; an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

passenger train. Passenger and freight rail traffic then switched to the

Merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

and MacArthur bridges.

Present day

In 1971, regional transit planners identified the Airport/Central Corridor as the region's primary target for further transit study. In 1983, funding was approved to evaluate five mode alternatives, which culminated in a 1984 draft environmental impact statement. After a series of public hearings the East–West Gateway Council of Governments adopted light rail as the preferred mode alternative. In 1989, after it was determined the downtown portion would use the Eads Bridge and existing tunnel for light rail, the city of St. Louis swapped the MacArthur Bridge for the Eads Bridge with the Terminal Railroad Association. In 1991, rehabilitation began on the subway tunnel for MetroLink usage and reopened in 1993. In 1992, just east of the present day Convention Center station, a portion of the tunnel beneath Washington Avenue and Broadway collapsed, injuring no one.

Architecture

The tunnel is notable for its intricate brick and stone construction. It's foundations are made up primarily of Aux Vases sandstone while the upper portion of the tunnel is constructed of brick barrel vaults. In the subway stations that were cut into the tunnel, the ends of the platforms are met with brick archways that complement the arch motif used throughout the MetroLink system.

Station listing

References

{{Structures in Greater St. Louis MetroLink (St. Louis) infrastructure Tunnels completed in 1874 Railway tunnels in Missouri