Biking Abandoned PA Turnpike
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- In late July, 2019, I traveled to Breezewood, Pennsylvania, to bike a stretch of the abandoned PA Turnpike. In 1968, the PA Turnpike was re-routed, and a 13 mile section of the highway was left completely abandoned, including two tunnels. Today, the abandoned highway is technically closed to the public, but the area is signed "Enter at your own risk." The post-apocalyptic feel of the abandoned road makes for a very interesting visit. See link below for more detailed information. Thanks for watching!
Abandoned PA Turnpike:
uncoveringpa.c...
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What a beautifully enjoyable ride with no traffic and all the fabulous scenery from the old tunnels to the trees. Now if they would just make more commuter bikeways like that abandoned road I think more ppl would commute by bike.
Thanks so much for checking it out. It was a fantastic ride. I agree, I wish there were more trails like this.
Interesting place to visit.. Thanks for sharing.. full View Like 30.. Nice light on your bike..
The lights work great, thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you so much for watching!
I remember when both of those tunnels were still in use.
This was an adventure that the Adventure Outdoors guy would approve of. Those were some creepy places. I kept looking for a clown to pop out. I feel sure that Smell N was sporting a sidearm in case of Zombies. I was very impressed with the bike lights. You should make a video about those.
This was a neat adventure...not completely out of the ordinary for Smell N Roses, but different from the typical sortie. It did have some creepy moments for sure. Good thing no clowns popped out. Unless I'm at a circus, if I see a clown I'm probably going to shoot first and ask questions later. I was definitely prepared for it, brother. I actually half expected to find some meth heads hanging out in that building. The lights I'm running are awesome, been using them for about a year now. One is sufficient actually, but I run two to improve the video quality. I've had a lot of request about different things relating to my bike set-up. If I can stop procrastinating I may do a video on it. Thanks for checking it out, my friend! P.S. I may be in touch with you soon.
Great video. The eastern entrance is where I always park to enter the Abandoned Turnpike.
Thanks so much for watching!!!
@@SmellNRoses You're welcome
neat ride! amazing how far they got in the construction there only to abandon it... wow that 6800ft tunnel is wild
Yeah its well over a mile through that second tunnel. This was a neat place to check out. The highway was actually in service for a number of years, over a decade for sure, but the designers never foresaw the growth in traffic and the single lane tunnels created bottlenecks. It was easier and less expensive to simply build a new road than to widen the tunnels. The current Turnpike actually passes over the 6800 foot tunnel. In many places the new road parallels the old road, and you can hear the truck noises at times. Transportation is the story of America.
@@SmellNRoses NY had a similar problem with a lot of tunnels, i bet that was the case all over
Creepy, reminds of the subway in Chicago.
Thanks for watching! The whole area was kind of creepy, but especially the tunnels.
Great video thanks for sharing 😊🌲
So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for watching!!!
Pretty cool..but looks like the kind of place that I would constantly keep an eye out for others "not out for a hike"!!! I kept looking for smoe S n' R graffiti LOL Interesting ride..Thanks for taking us along!!!
Thanks for watching, my friend. It was a fun ride, very interesting place. I agree I was kind of expecting to run into some unwanted company out there but fortunately did not see anyone.
This video combines many of my passions: abandoned infrastructure, adventure/exploration, photography, cycling, art, and history. Very well done.
I'm so glad you enjoyed my video. I appreciate your comment and feedback. Thanks for watching!
I was looking for a video of someone biking this. If I'm ever near there on a biking trip...Definitely stopping there to check it out. It'd be a great out & back adventure on my Fargo or Cutthroat.👍
Thanks for checking out my video. Yes this is a fun ride, definitely worth going if you are nearby. I was in the area for another purpose but took my bike so I could ride it.
We could call this the 'post apocalyptic cycle way.' Very interesting bro. We have rail lines abandoned here all over the UK, which are now being brought back to life as a national cycle way. Good going. Have a cool week. Mark
"Post apocalyptic" definitely describes this trail for sure. This was my first experience riding an abandoned auto highway, but here in the States we also have a lot of old railroad lines that are converted to biking and hiking trails. Here we call them "rails to trails." It's definitely an excellent way to preserve history and create new recreation opportunities for people. Thanks so much for watching, my friend!
A pleasure to watch and comment bro. Yeah I suspect most western economies have their abandoned or failed projects that are put to different use. This was no exception. Have a good one.
Guessing the tunnels probably smell funky
Thanks so much for watching. There’s pretty decent ventilation through the tunnels, I didn’t notice any unusual smell.
Pretty awesome video and a bit creepy at the same time. But thumbs 👍 up be safe out ther
Thanks so much for watching! So did you find my video a little creepy or was it the old road and tunnels? I hope it was the latter. These kinds of abandoned places are always a little creepy I agree. That’s probably part of their allure for some people.
Darn, three hours from me in the suburbs of Philly!
Hey it was a 5 hour + drive for me from southern Virginia….get out there and check it out. Its a lot of fun. Thanks for watching!
Interesting tunnel.
It was a neat place to check out, still in great shape after all the years abandoned. Thanks for watching, my friend!
Will look this up on OpenStreetMap, look for crowdsourced Mapillary images
Check it out!
That was an awesome ride. You are very brave going through those rooms not knowing who may be down there. Looks like a great spot for the homeless. Thanks for taking us along.
Thanks so much for checking it out! I was a little nervous about exploring the building...the place didn't creep me out but I was worried about running into some crackheads in there LOL! Sorry for the delay in replying to you, I've been travelling recently and limited internet access. I still gotta catch up on some of your videos too, but I will!
@@SmellNRoses yes that was what I was afraid of too. Some druggie or homeless person suddenly appearing. Just glad you were safe.
Cool place. Adventure in a place like that lets the imagination run wide open
Thanks for watching, my friend! It was a fun visit to a unique place. Indeed, someone with a creative imagination could think up any number of interesting stories for this place!
Definitely creepy but cool at the same time. Walking Dead could be filmed there for sure. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for watching, my friend! That whole ride was creepy, but especially the tunnels. I had read somewhere that there were some post-apocalypse themed movies were shot here. I tried to look up the names for the description but could not find the links again. The graffiti was insane, man. I was able to largely edit it out for the video but there were some images that I personally found quite disturbing.
I dig your headlights. I seen a hiking video from this area once. I think maybe sintax77? But this one on the bike was definately different. I'd prefer to bike than hike! I bet there was rats in there! No way... I'm positive I wouldn't have went into that building! I'm glad I could see it from your eyes but I couldn't have went by myself. I must of missed what could have been thought of as offensive :) Thanks for showing this forgotten project / location.
The headlights work great. One is actually sufficient, but I run two in order to improve my video quality...things we do for RUclips LOL!...Yes this is a fairly well known spot and I have seen a few other vids on it. I believe Syntax did an overnight near one of the tunnel portals. Trails and roads like this are definitely for biking. I'd never consider hiking this on foot, would be brutal both physically and mentally. Going inside the building was fun although I was nervous about running into a meth head or homeless person LOL. Fortunately nobody was there, just the rats! I edited it out most of the really offensive or disturbing graffiti, but I put the warning just in case someone managed to catch a glimpse of something. There were plenty of foul words, images of poor taste, as well as disturbing religious type images. Some of the graffiti was downright creepy by itself. Most of the images were not clear in the video, but since I really like keeping my channel family friendly, I thought it best to throw up a warning on this one just to be safe. Thanks so much for checking it out, my friend!
You are quite the explorer. I was waiting for zombies to come pouring outta that place🤣 Creepy spot for sure. Some folks are very artistic with the graffiti. Don’t condone it but put to good use it’s interesting. I always enjoy seeing it on railroad cars.
Thanks for watching, my friend! Yeah it was good to get up there for a few days, it had been a few years since my last visit to PA. Man, this place was on the creepy side but neat to check it out. I totally agree on the graffiti. I hate to see it on rocks, trees, and anything natural, but it does not bother me as much when its on something man made. It can be interesting when done right. I edited out a lot of graffiti for this video, but I have to admit that some of the images I saw out there was quite disturbing to me personally.
This is a really awesome ride and adventure. I really enjoyed this. Brilliant!!
Thanks so much for watching. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to visit this place, though it was a little on the creepy side lol!
You forgot to explore the Cove Valley service plaza parking lot area.
Yeah I should have rode down there, I know it wasn’t far but I was just passing through and needed to get on to my destination. If I get up there again, I’ll enter from the eastern side so I can see what I missed in this trip. Thanks!!!
@@SmellNRoses that's cool. My first time there was simular. It was just a side trip on our way to the Pa Maple Festival in Meyersdale Pa. I have 2 videos on my channel of the Abandined Turnpike
Good morning...
We watched a youtuber meetup on this trail many years ago..that's how we got hooked on meetup vids... so cool to see u there...watchimg from my hammock... its raining... got my zombie bike behind me
RUclipsr meetups are always fun and the vids are cool too. This place had been on my list for quite some time and it was fun to finally get an opportunity to check it out. Thanks so much for watching!!! Stay dry if you can and enjoy that hammock!
Well I got the creeps now!
LOL! It was a fun place to visit but definitely creepy. Thanks for checking it out!
Nice ride out on the bike again although that tunnel was a bit spooky lol. Not a fan of graffiti but everyone to their own I suppose, cheers Alan
It was fun to visit this place but it was a little creepy for sure! I agree about the graffiti, though I have to admit it bothers me less when its on something man made. I really hate to see it on rocks and trees and other natural places. Thanks so much for watching, my friend!
When I was just a boy my family and I used to run that old section to visit family in Pottstown ,PA . Oh the memories..
That's so interesting, my friend. The original turnpike opened in the late 1930s, but I'm sure exactly when this section was abandoned and the new highway opened. The modern PA Turnpike runs roughly parallel to this road, and I while I was out there I could sometimes hear traffic and road noise. Thanks for watching!!!
I believe it was late 50s/early 60s... I remember the lanes of the turnpike converging down to a single lane (two way traffic) through single tunnels in the Breezewood area of PA. I was quite young 7 or 8 years old.
Wow that is neat. You likely passed through these two tunnels then, as a small child. The modern turnpike does not have any tunnels in the Breezewood area.
My Brother, Sister and I were awed by the tunnels.. It is almost sad to see them decaying away..
Nice video men. where you bought the flashlight.
Thanks so much for checking it out! I was running Lumina Niterider lights attached to my handlebars. Mine are 1100 lumens each, but they have several different models/lumens depending on your needs and application. They are great lights.
@@SmellNRoses thanks man
Sounds like there's an 🦉living in that tunnel
LOL!!! Indeed. Thanks for watching!
Great video! Looks like a great place to camp! If you where doing the whole trail. So just what was the machine like in that building for??? And as all ways, Thanks for taking US along!!!!
You could definitely do some stealth camping along this route if you wanted to. I only skipped the last mile or so, the whole thing is only about 9 miles (one way) and on a bike it only took a couple of hours to ride round trip, including all the stops along the way to check out the tunnels. I kind of regret I didn't go ahead and ride down to the other entrance, but I was wanting to wrap that up and get down the road to my next stop later that afternoon. I believe all that machinery inside the building was part of a ventilation system for the tunnel. That second tunnel was over a mile long so it certainly would have had some sort of mechanical system to remove automobile exhaust. I believe the shorter first tunnel had a similar system, but that structure was well barricaded and I could not see inside. Glad you enjoyed the video, thank you so much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it!
@@SmellNRoses Thanks!!! One other thing. Saw all the "GRAFFITI"! Did you see anyone else?
Yes there was tons of graffiti everywhere. I hate to see graffiti on rocks, trees, or other natural areas, but it bothers me less when its on man-made things, though I still don't condone it of course. I was out there on a weekday morning so I didn't see anyone. I imagine the place is probably busy with locals late in the afternoons or on weekends. There were some people getting ready to enter the trail as I was loading up and getting ready to leave the parking area.
LOL I do the same thing when I go through a tunnel. But much louder. That sure looked like a fun ride. You know I bet you could do a stealth night on top of the second tunnel.👍
LOL the echo was insane in there, especially inside the longer tunnel. That one was over a mile long and the echo seemed to last forever. This was a very fun ride, had a very apocalyptic feel to it. Kind of reminded me of that spot where you did some videos around some crumbling infrastructure. There were plenty of places where one could set up a stealth camp, especially in the summer with the leaves. In reality this road is never far from the modern PA Turnpike as well as a few residential areas, so in winter you could probably see some of that stuff from the trail. I knew you would like this episode. Thanks for watching, my friend.
Neet history and definite lack of foresight on the builders part. Still a cool place to explore and apparently the taggers like it. What lights are you running on the bike?
Indeed! The people who designed the original highway just never could foresee that the tunnels would be too small. It was a four lane highway but the tunnels were a single lane in each direction so it created traffic bottlenecks. It was a lot of fun to check this place out, even if it was a little creepy. For lights, I was running two NiteRider Lumina 1100 headlights, for a combined 2200 lumens of light. One is actually plenty of light to see with, but I added the second one to improve my video results.
Now that was cool! Really cool my friend! All the graffiti reminded me of a scene out of the''warriors''. Great job!
Thanks so much for watching, my friend. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. It was a fun place to visit. Sadly I forgot the names, but during my research prior to my visit, I read that there were some post-apocalypse themed movies that were filmed on the turnpike.
Wow- you get the bravery award, SR! You couldn’t pay me to do that ride and walk-through! 😮😬
This place was pretty creepy and that second tunnel was over a mile long so it felt like I'd never get through it. I stopped once in the middle and could not see any light from either end. When I went inside the building near the end, I was nervous that I might find some homeless meth head living in there. I was out there on weekday so I did not see anyone at all, but this adventure is probably not for the faint at heart LOL! Thanks so much for checking it out!
Cool tunnels. The tunnels themselves wouldn’t bother me, but were you concerned about gang members hanging around with all that graffiti? Thanks for sharing this adventure!
Thanks for checking it out, my friend. This was a fun ride, though it was a little on the creepy side too. I agree, the tunnels themselves were in great condition and did not bother me at all. I didn't really think about gang members but I did worry about coming across a homeless person or some meth head or something like that. I'm always prepared to do what ever it takes, but the thought did cross my mind that if I got into a gunfight in there and survived, I'd still be deaf for the rest of my life LOL!!!
Man that was one creepy tunnel but pretty awesome. Good video my friend, stay safe out there 🤙
Man this whole place was creepy, but especially the tunnels. That second one was over a mile long, in the middle of that one it was pitch back and could not see light from either portal, strange feeling for sure. Glad you enjoyed the vid, thanks so much for watching!
Great video. This is on my list off places to bike. Man the tunnel has a nice creepy vibe.
Thanks so much for watching and for your comment. Yeah this place is super creepy but in a cool way lol. It was fun. If you get a chance definitely go check it out!
Love me some modern ruins. Highways have always been a thing for me. Bring from and still living in Illinois, there's a bit of a fascination with Route 66 and all its alignments. Driven and walked most of them.
Those tunnels look perfect for a post apocalyptic movie. 😉😉😉
I too am fascinated by old and new ruins and abandoned places. It's interesting to learn their stories. Sadly I don't recall their names, but there were a couple of movies filmed in this area. Thanks for checking out my video, as always I really appreciate it!
That's a pretty cool place to explore. How crazy is that, the railroad or the turnpike didn't really make it. Part of what you showed must have been a ventilation system since that tunnel is so long. Kinda reminds me of the building you explored a good while back. The turnpike made for a great video 👍 ATB, Tony
Thanks so much for watching and commenting, my friend. Yes this was a lot of fun to visit. Definitely pretty crazy how so many plans were made for the route but here it lies completely abandoned today. The railroad was never built and the highway was short lived. The modern Turnpike parallels it though and at times could hear the traffic LOL! I agree I believe that mechanical infrastructure was almost certainly for ventilation. I believe the smaller tunnel had something similar but the rooms were locked up on that one. The second tunnel also had the doors welded but the intermediate components had been broken out so I was able to climb through the door to have a look inside. Man that second tunnel was well over a mile long...I was pedaling hard and felt as though I'd never get through it LOL!
Wow, that second tunnel is over a mile long - I assumed they were much shorter from other vids. That place could be programmed up as a video game. Weird place.
Thanks for watching, my friend! Yeah the first tunnel I went through was not that long but the second one seem to go on forever. It is well over a mile through that second tunnel. When I was in the middle of that one, I briefly turned off my lights and realized it was pitch black and I could not see any light from either end. Crazy. Sadly I forgot the names and could not find the link again, but during my research prior to my visit, I read that some post-apocalypse themed movies were filmed on the turnpike. It definitely has that vibe.
Seemed very post apocalyptic. or maybe it was just my active imagination :-)
Cool ride, just the same. Thanks for sharing it
'Post apocalyptic' definitely describes this place. Thanks for checking it out!
Those tunnels look like a good back drop for a horror movie or some type of apocalyptic type movie . I kept expecting you to come across a body just any time. lol This would definitely make a cool bike trail no doubt. Can you imagine the money the government wasted on those tunnels. Wow! Thanks for sharing this location!
I recall reading somewhere that there were one or two apocalypse themed movies that were filmed in that area. It was a fun place to check out. I guess it wasn't a total waste, the highway was active for at least 10 years or so before it was abandoned, but obviously the tunnels were intended to last much longer. The designers of the highway certainly did not foresee how quickly it would become outdated. Thanks for watching, my friend!
that was cool, i'm liking these biking videos, some good friend from YT did a camping hike though these tunnels 3 or 4 yrs ago and went in all the buildings and such very cool. what kind of lights do you use on your bike? thanks for sharing brother i enjoyed seeing all of this again it has been a long time and looks like nothing has changed
atb john
Thanks for watching, my friend. Indeed nothing has changed out there. There are plans to develop it into an actual trail but nothing has been done. I kind of like it as it is actually, left to Nature to slowly reclaim. I'm running two NiteRider lights, they are 1100 lumens each. One is actually sufficient, but two improves my video quality.