Rays Hill Tunnel
Tunnel on the original Pennsylvania Turnpike
title: "Rays Hill Tunnel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["transportation-buildings-and-structures-in-bedford-county,-pennsylvania", "transportation-buildings-and-structures-in-fulton-county,-pennsylvania", "pennsylvania-turnpike-commission", "former-toll-tunnels-in-the-united-states", "tunnels-completed-in-1940", "former-toll-roads-in-pennsylvania", "road-tunnels-in-pennsylvania"] description: "Tunnel on the original Pennsylvania Turnpike" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rays_Hill_Tunnel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Tunnel on the original Pennsylvania Turnpike ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox tunnel"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Rays Hill Tunnel |
| image | Rays Hill Tunnel at night 1942.jpg |
| image_size | 300px |
| caption | Rays Hill Tunnel at night in 1942, photographed by Arthur Rothstein |
| line | South Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned |
| location | Rays Hill, |
| Bedford / Fulton counties, Pennsylvania, USA | |
| coordinates | |
| status | Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike |
| Currently Pike2Bike Trail | |
| startwork | 1881 - railway |
| 1938 - highway | |
| opened | October 1, 1940 |
| closed | November 26, 1968 - Interstate 76 (aged 28 years) |
| owner | South Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned |
| Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission abandoned | |
| Pike2Bike Trail | |
| character | Hiking, biking, and skateboard trail |
| construction | 1881–1885 - railway |
| 1938–1940 - highway | |
| length | 3532 ft - highway |
| lanes | 2 |
| crosses | Rays Hill |
| :: |
|name = Rays Hill Tunnel |image = Rays Hill Tunnel at night 1942.jpg |image_size = 300px |caption = Rays Hill Tunnel at night in 1942, photographed by Arthur Rothstein |line = South Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned |location = Rays Hill, Bedford / Fulton counties, Pennsylvania, USA |coordinates = |route = |status = Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Currently Pike2Bike Trail |start = |end = |startwork = 1881 - railway 1938 - highway |opened = October 1, 1940 |closed = November 26, 1968 - Interstate 76 (aged 28 years) |owner = South Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission abandoned Pike2Bike Trail |operator = |character = Hiking, biking, and skateboard trail |construction= 1881–1885 - railway 1938–1940 - highway |length = 3532 ft - highway |lanes = 2 |speed = |hielevation = |lowelevation= |height = |width = |grade = |crosses = Rays Hill
Rays Hill Tunnel is an abandoned tunnel, formerly part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Rays Hill Tunnel is 3532 ft long. It was the shortest of the seven original tunnels on Pennsylvania Turnpike. Due to its short length, its ventilation fans were installed only at its western portal. Its eastern portal is the only one of the 14 tunnel portals on the original turnpike that has no ventilation fan housing. This difference could be seen by westbound traffic on the Turnpike.
The tunnel connects Bedford and Fulton Counties in South Central Pennsylvania.
Replacement
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Rays_Hill_Tunnel_-Andrew_Carnegie-_1880s.jpg" caption="Rays Hill Tunnel during construction of the railroad tunnel in the 1880s. [[Andrew Carnegie]] is present in the middle of the photo"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Rays_Hill_Tunnel_east_portal_2019.jpg" caption="East portal to Rays Hill Tunnel in 2019"] ::
From the Turnpike's opening in 1940 until the realignment projects, the tunnels were bottlenecks due to reduced speeds with opposing traffic in the same tubes. Four other tunnels on the Turnpike - Allegheny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, and Blue Mountain - each had a second tube bored, as it was determined in these instances to be the less expensive option. All of the original tunnels were part of the never-completed South Pennsylvania Railroad which history has dubbed "Vanderbilt's Folly."
Current
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Abandoned_PA_TPK_EB_at_Rays_Hill_Tunnel.jpg" caption="West portal to Rays Hill Tunnel in 2023"] ::
At the present time, the tunnels remain unlit and unimproved since their closure in 1968. The entire length of the bypassed section is now commonly known as the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Trivia
The tunnel was prominently featured in the 2005 music video for the song Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo by American rock band Bloodhound Gang.
Notes
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::