by Did you know there is a 13-mile stretch of abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike that you can bike or walk on, and experience what the apocalypse might feel like? This section of highway near Breezewood, PA, was in use until 1968, when its replacement was opened. There were two tunnels and a service plaza in this stretch; the service plaza was demolished, but the roads and tunnels were left to their fates and are slowly returning to the elements (showing the wear of both natural and human deterioration).
We walked just over a mile on a rainy day to reach the Sideling Hill Tunnel, which is about a mile long. We didn’t go more than a hundred feet in and had it completely to ourselves. The silence and gloomy weather definitely created an eerie atmosphere. We carted Mr. K most of the way in his backpack, to which he had a most strenuous objection, but let him do some exploring at both ends.
The highway appeared to have two lanes in each direction, reducing to one lane in each direction at the tunnel. This bottleneck was apparently too much for the turnpike to bear, hence the rerouting. The Eastbound lanes in this stretch are very overgrown, but the Westbound lanes, while not in great shape, are easily walkable. Plans have been underway to turn this former roadway into a bike trail, but that’s been in the works for years now with no fruition in site.
Fun fact: the post-apocalyptic survival movie “The Road” (based on Cormac McCarthy’s book) was filmed at locations along the abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike – I’m not kidding when I say it was creepy!
