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Sep 9, 2007 — The idea seemed ludicrous. To make a bike trail, just punch a hole in the southcentral Pennsylvania mountains. Bikers wouldn't have to climb 1,200 feet from Breezewood and over Rays Hill and Sideling Hill.
As it turned out, the holes were already there.
That suggestion, made as a joke, was the beginning of the Pike 2 Bike trail (P2B), one of the country's most unique. This 8.5-mile-long bike trail - including its two tunnels - was a part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike until 1968, when this stretch of the nation's first superhighway was abandoned. The tunnels were expensive to maintain and choking vehicle traffic, but perfect for a trail.
In 2001, the turnpike gave that portion of the pike to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy. Today, the turnpike bypasses tunnels by crawling over both hills.
The bike highway starts just outside Breezewood, about 100 miles from York. It ends at what was Cove Travel Plaza, its painted parking-lot lines still marking the asphalt. In between are two long tunnels, four lanes of concrete - only two lanes in the tunnels - and sometimes broken asphalt. The trail is mostly level.
Murray Schrotenboer is chairman of Friends of the Pike 2 Bike, an advisory committee that now runs and maintains the trail. He bikes 150 to 200 miles a week, owns a bike shop and gives guided tours of the trail. He estimates about
"You don't even need to bike the entire length; just visit one of the tunnels and turn around" he says. "I took one tour group of people from 10 to 70 years old. They took their time, and they all made it. It's not a race; speed doesn't necessarily mean more enjoyment."
Schrotenboer sees the grown-over appearance of the trail as a "post-apocalyptic America." The medians are mini forests, and trees sometimes crowd the sides of the highway.
But as easy a ride and unique as the road is, the two long tunnels are the major attraction.
The Sideling Hill tunnel is 6,782 feet long, with a slight hump at the center. As a result, riders can't see the other end of the tunnel. One rider described it as "spooky dark." Schrotenboer and his friends regularly clear the road of debris, but some concrete, mostly small pieces, has fallen. Lights are a must; without them, riders could hit concrete chunks, the wall or other riders.
Above the tunnel is a chamber through which fresh air was forced into the tunnel below. Giant fans, the control room and the electric room are at the end of the tunnel, but are closed to the public except by private tour.
Officially, the trail is closed because of obvious liabilities. But unofficially, riders can ride at their own risk, according to the trail's Web site - http://www.pike2bike.org.
The other tunnel on the route is Rays Hill tunnel, a 3,532-footer that lets riders see light at the end of the other end, making it somewhat easier to navigate.
Prior to the tunnels' closure nearly 40 years ago, traffic was funneled from the highway's four lanes to each tunnel's two lanes and screeched to a stop on a regular basis. Traffic had grown to 24 times higher than what the original planners expected. High personnel, utility and maintenance costs made closing the tunnels a priority.
Of the seven tunnels on the turnpike, three were abandoned. The Laurel Hill tunnel near Pittsburgh was abandoned in 1964, and Schrotenboer says it is being leased from the turnpike by a car-racing company for testing.
The other four tunnels were "twinned" - expanded to four lanes by adding another tunnel.
Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo says costs of building a new tunnel have skyrocketed.
"You can't even build a mile-long tunnel today for $100 million," he says. "Add to that cost the maintenance, personnel to police and operate it, energy for lights and to clear exhaust fumes. But building a mile of regular highway costs about $20 million. Period."
The P2B's tunnels and trail connect to the Bike Pa S route, making this the longest of the five Pennsylvania routes at 435 miles. Bikers shouldn't count on tunnels to help them over the mountains on that route.
