Thanks to, I think, Murray of Grouseland Tours (I'm bad with names), who unwittingly helped inform me of quite a bit of what goes on inside the Turnpike tunnels. I will reiterate on this page that any part of the Turnpike structure off of the main Pike2Bike trail is off-limits to the public, including the tunnels and other abandoned sections of the Turnpike. There, I've said it, so if you choose to see what I saw, I feel less guilty.


See, the stairs on the western side of the tunnel are much better than on the eastern side. Up we go...


Looking west from the second level at the entire split from two undivided lanes to four divided lanes.


Details of the little room at the top of the staircase, storing I don't know what in the corner and giving you the chance to crawl right up onto the top of the tunnel portal.


Now into the ventilation room, with a pair of fans much taller than I am. Between those fans is a single lonely door...


With an impossible choice to make.... Don't worry, they both lead to the same place, just don't follow the arrows.


I don't know why there are rail tracks embedded in the ceiling of the tunnel, but anyway, here I am over the westbound side.


Ta-da, a light fixture seen from the top. Maintenance workers would have to crawl up into this ventilation space the same way I did (up the now-rusty stairs, take a left through the fans) just to change one lightbulb.


Continuing down the plenum (not my word, I'd call it "big open space where ventilation happens") eastward, weaving between eastbound and westbound sides of the tunnel, photographing some pipe, some tourists, and a break in the rail - wait a minute, tourists? Yep, apparently I caught back up to Murray's tour group, over half an hour after he told me not to climb up here and I went on my way. Well, if he's allowed up here, I certainly am, so I caught up to them, kept taking photos, and listened in as much as I could on Murray's storytelling before backtracking. I'm sure he really didn't mind, as long as I was safe (and I do have enough experience in closed spaces thanks to an MIT education... look up "Roof and tunnel hacking" in Wikipedia... so don't come up here if you don't), and Murray has a ton of knowledge, so look for his yellow jacket and knowledgable ways.


A square ventilation hole, looking different from the rectangular ones but serving the same function.


The tour group continues on past another rectangular hole, and the track disappears into the darkness. Up ahead, you can dimly see the division of the plenum into two manifolds (now I'm really just throwing random words at you), and each manifold will narrow further until the midpoint of the tunnel, where the other plenum takes over. In English: Up ahead, there are two ventilation ducts, and they get narrower, and they end, and the other side begins.


Oh, did I mention you can get outside? You have to crawl through the window of a door with questionable splintery and shardy bits of things sticking out (see first photo), and then you can walk around and poke your nose into random pits (second photo). The pipe in the third photo I'm sure had some connection back to the tunnel, probably dealing with ventilation, but leaves, dirt, and other debris have determined to sever that connection.


Back into the machine room and up onto a ledge, for a different perspective of the gigantic fans at this end. You can almost hear the hum of the Industrial Revolution.

Below: I climbed from the ledge where I took the previous two photos over to the window, and scraped my way up onto the ledge there to look westward one more time. And I do mean scraped. Please don't poke around unless you don't mind getting 30 years of dust into your circulatory system. The view is worth it, though.

Head east through and out of the tunnel
Head east up to the tunnel
Head west up to and through the tunnel
Head west out of the tunnel
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