Pennsylvania Turnpike Tunnels 1953

Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOP_QoizcWc for a much improved version of this film, with added music. Set your viewer to "high quality" mode. Thank you for all your appreciation! RobertWMartens

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• pennsylvania
• PA
• turnpike
• tunnels
• tunnel
• tuscarora
• blue
• sideling
• rays
• kittatinny
• interstate
• highway
• abandoned
• 1953

[SunDazed101]

Thank you for sharing this! My father worked the pike for 48 yrs, he died 3 yrs ago, and would have loved to see this. I did, however, get to show this to Mom, and it brought a smiling tear to her eye. Our family is still working the 'pike, and have been going on the abandoned section since we were all kids. (Dad used to take us to gather firewood, and look for mushrooms.) Nowadays we bike it! From all of us, Thank you for sharing great memories!

[robertwmartens]

Glad you all enjoyed it! I've posted a much improved version of this video on my channel with better color and sharper detail, plus music, so please have a look at that too. Best regards.

[ColonelSamatoshi]

Can you UL the whole film instead of clipping it?

[robertwmartens]

This is the whole footage that exists of the tunnels, I did not edit out any of it. I recently uploaded a much improved version of this film on my channel, please go there to find it. This tunnel footage is just a small part of a 400-foot reel (apx. 15 minutes long) that features my parents' wedding and a 1953 family reunion. Those films are also on my channel. Thanks for watching.

[blaquestrength]

It appears to be dark as all get out in those tunnels! The car lights didn't appear to be much help in seeing at all.

[robertwmartens]

The tunnels were much better lit than they appear. The home movie film of the time was formulated for shooting in sunlight and were not sensitive enough to pick up the reduced light of a shady room, or a tunnel - hence the apparent blackness. (The few times my Grandfather shot indoors, he had to use floodlights which were hot and cumbersome.)

[MAMsMom97]

The tunnels were lit. They were lit with recessed lighting, and each fixture was approximately 2 feet in diameter. Each tunnel equipped with these fixtures had a "tunnel within a tunnel" for maintenance workers to access the fixtures which burned out. I understand they were very difficult to maintain. The Southern Alleghenies Commission that owns the stretch that Sideling Hill and Rays Hill is on is trying to get grant money which will be used to buy solar LED lights for the tunnels for bikers.

[jaybugstrait]

I live about half a mile from the old sidling hill tunnel and i thought that your vidio was cool and i was woundering how you gat it

[thelazycomic]

Cool that you've got that footage of Ray's Hill Tunnel. The did away with it when I was a little kid, and I've always wondered what it looked like. Thanks.

[RogerSales]

I cycled both the Sideling Hill and Rays Hill tunnels on an adventure in the summer of '08. Its A GREAT ADVENTURE! Its great to see a vid of them as active!

[SweetThang612]

This was definitely before my time. Because whenever I have traveled the PA turnpike the tunnels have been doubled and I have never seen any Sideling or Ray's tunnels.

[dodge09challenger]

Great old footage, I will definately check out your website.

[philglassfan]

Love how the right lane ends with a taper about ten feet long. Nice 4' wide median, LOL. Highway engineering back then was ridiculously bad (and often still is).

[josh666675]

tht sucks to see how they gave these up these look really cool and fun bnow they let them go to shit

[hudson501]

Great film of the "Grandfather" of the American four lane. Sadly, not one Hudson in any of the shots coming or going!

[Hunkola]

Funny.......your 1953 footage looks better than today's cell phone crap video!