Abandoned PA Turnpike East End
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- Опубликовано: 12 янв 2019
- There is a section of abandoned PA Turnpike between Pump Station Road and Little Egypt Road about .9 Miles in length. It is still closed to the public yet should be opened as part of the 'Pike 2 Bike' trail.
I would say if any of y'all had questions about the turnpike, this is the man you'd ask. Thanks for the Vid and your time. It is very much appreciated.
The New Egypt Road overpass was a single span through girder bridge which was demolished several years and replaced with a fill, therefore obstructing any traffic between the unused section of Turnpike to the active Turnpike, east of the old bridge. PTC feared bikers and hikers would enter the active turnpike, therefore the Route 30 bridge at Breezewood, Pump Station and New Egypt crossings were demolished.
Yep! I remember that old span. Let me quickly say that I'm glad to have the 'honorable' Mitch Dakelman view and comment on the video. I say honorable because of all the outstanding work you have done on the subject of the turnpike in the past. I do have a copy of your images of America book. And let's hope we can get this middle section of abandoned Pike open in the future.
Many years ago, when turnpike employee Peg Stapleton retired a group was given access to the entire abandoned Turnpike which included all the bridges that were still intact.
I have been researching and studing about the Abandoned Pa Turnpike since 2006 when I first leaned about it. One of the original renovation plans was to rebuild the service plaza and to repave the roadway for bikers and hikers and charge a small fee to go onto the roadway and to help maintain it. Maybe that is why they never opened up the parking lot to the service plaza to try and prevent wear and tear of it. They also talked about relighting the tunnels with solar powered lights. I myself would love to see the tunnels cleaned up and restored and have the graffiti removed.
I first discovered it in 1973 and despite the Turnpike would deny access I went out for a visit and I was never bothered.
Very true Mitch. I first visited the west side of Rays Hill in the summer of '86. The letters spelling Rays Hill were still intact on the portal. A turnpike employee who lived next to the old pike told me no one will bother you as long as you don't cause any trouble. When I came back 2 years later, the letters for Rays Hill had been removed.
I seem to remember reading about those plans. I have heard that actually one plan was to keep the post-apocalyptic look of the tunnels portals. With that said I would like to at least see one tunnel portal restored to the way it originally looked in 1940. Restore all the signs and the pavement and the lights, etc the way it looked in 1940. And maybe even lease it to Hollywood to make a movie. And not a post-apocalyptic movie like 'The Road'.
@CruisingPittsburgh I've always felt with its historical value that I'd love to see it restored to brand new 1940's condition and look again as well. Plus rebuild Cove Valley Service Plaza to its original 1940s look inside and out
@@CruisingPittsburghI miss seeing your videos. When is your next one going to be and have you figured out what it is going to be about yet? I am curious to find out!
I went here earlier in the year loved it wish we could get to the other parts that was taken out with bridges. I was gonna ck out the one part but the signs made me rethink that lol. I feel we need to get a group of people together who uses it and go to the pike to bike and get permission to clean it up a little mow some grass that we can get safely and remove the trees that fell all over place and stuff like that. I’d be down to take a weekend and go help with that give me another reason to take my camper and use my zero turn mower lol. Great vid by the way
Excellent idea Ed. The .85 Mile section between the 2 roads is likely not dangerous to explore since the state troopers have no way to access it. And then u can tell them u climbed down from Egypt Rd as there are no signs there saying no trespassing. At least as far as I recall.
Cruising Pittsburgh didn’t think of it that way recon I got a new mission next time I go
anxiously awaiting more of your drive around the Pittsburgh area clips
Turn it over to the public.. it has history of the interstate system....
Thank you for this information. I always assumed everything from Pump Station rd East was the mile long stretch still owned by the PTC. I would like to see that .85 mile of road opened back up to the public.
In my opinion this closed off section of the old abandoned turnpike actually does have use to both the turnpike commission and the pike to bike group in that this full section of abandoned road is post-apocalyptic which could be used for as a movie lot for movie companies looking for locations that call for an abandoned freeway. as such, both entities would gain money anytime that a movie is filmed within that location and, as you mentioned, with it being separate, it's easier to keep people from going through and ruining shots
cool video...you should do a video on the laurel hill stretch and tunnel too
interesting video . I bet there are a lot of old abandoned roads around
That access road to Cove Valley service plaza was the first road I turned onto. Accidently went on there in my big Ford Expedition. I had to back up out of that narrow rd to go down to the other road for parking. LOL Not fun having no way to turn around on that narrow road.
That's some skills backing your Expedition out of an old access road. They are usually pretty narrow and hard to navigate face first, let alone backing up.
@@FinnandMaxsMom lol it wasnt easy. Wish the yellow gate had been open. Then I could have just turned around. And drove back. I hope to get back there next March 2021. I've been there 5 times already. I have videos of my adventures on my you tube channel
It’s not closed it’s public property. We all own it. How could you deny access to the owner?
Well done.
The yellow gate was closed and locked on March 20th of 2019 as well.
I see this video is a couple years old so I was wondering did they ever open it to the public
Sadly, no. I was there today and it was still closed off
Is there any explanation to why those areas, to new Egypt road and beyond are not available to the public?
Between Little Egypt RD and where the Eastern alignment of the Abandoned Turnpike meets the current alignment, the state police had set up a gun range. Fresh blacktop, earth embankment, and shooting lanes. When the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy (SAC) acquired the Abandoned Turnpike in the early 2000s, the Route 30 bridge and the Pump Station Rd bridge were removed to help designate what is PTC-owned property. The author of this video mentioned this. Little Egypt Bridge was removed a few years after those bridges were removed (removed to cut down on maintenance), making the PTC gate useless at Pump Station Road. If that lone house at Little Egypt road wouldn't mind the bike traffic, that extra half mile of road is a nice flat ride.
It may have been put in there for PennDOT and/or police and emergency vehicles
They wasted so much damn money with all these abandoned roadways & tunnels that leads to nothing - Shame on PennDot they should be held accountable smh
Nicely put together video. The east entrance is always were I park. I've been there 5 times now. I recently heard they finally got a grant. Hopefully they will start repaving the roadway. At least the better of the two lanes. Check out my channel for my videos of the Abandoned Pa Turnpike.
They should clean the bike path up and repave it
I would require them to reopen it and use it for hazardous transport
Thanks for this interesting and well done video. I grew up in western PA and traveled the entire length of the turnpike when the original tunnels were operational. It was pretty cool to go through the tunnels, but they were a big bottleneck. Whenever there was a holiday, entrance to the tunnels would back up for miles. So the turnpike commission did the right thing. That all said, it is amazing how many YT videos there are of people exploring the old stretches of the highway and tunnels. Some of what the people are doing is unsafe as they go into the upper stories of the tunnels and go up and down rotting stairways or crawl through windows. I know people like history, but I have to say that the turnpike commission should have completely ripped up the old roadways and boarded up the tunnels right after they were closed. Then let mother nature take over. As it is, it's just old roadway deteriorating year after year. Sorry, but that is my opinion.
Closed to the public. We are the Government screw them
I notice that the bypass goes ON TOP of the Sideling Hill tunnel. If one were to, heading eastbound, pull over and look over the side, would you be able to see the tunnel and old turnpike?
That is a good question. And although I am never actually tried to do that myself, my guess is probably not. First, the tunnel portal is about a thousand feet or so from the current highway, and at a much lower level. And the second point is that there is all those trees and other forms of vegetation that would likely obstruct your view. Of course don't forget, you would need to stop at just the right place on the current highway, which I'm sure would be very hard to determine. I can tell you one thing for sure, if you stand outside the old east portal, no matter how spooky it may look, you will definitely hear the noise of the current turnpike traffic. Contrast that to the West Portal, where everything seems so quiet!
@@CruisingPittsburghAre you going to be uploading any more videos any time soon?
Please don't take offense, but your voice sounds like Ted Cruz's.