Tom and I are in Ohio now, but the last weekend we were at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, we were part of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel Anniversary celebration. The Cumberland Gap Tunnel was 30 years old, and the park went all out to celebrate.
Before the Cumberland Gap Tunnel was built in 1996, 25E ran directly over the Cumberland Gap. Which made sense, since it was the lowest point through the mountains and had been a trail and road for hundreds of years. Except it wasn’t a good road for cars. The road was narrow and twisty. Logging trucks and coal trucks would come barreling down the mountain. An average of ten people died per year along a very small stretch of the road. The 2.3 miles of road inside the proposed national historical park was nicknamed “Massacre Mountain.” When the park was dedicated in 1959, the local tri-state government realized that a safer route through the park was needed.
It took another 35 years for all the funding, research, and design to come together for a tunnel to be built. The first 1.1 million dollars was allocated for the tunnel by Congress in 1979. A 4,100 foot pilot tunnel was drilled in 1986. The pilot tunnel revealed thick clay infillings, limestone formations, caves, multiple underground springs and streams, and a lake within the mountain. 450 gallons of water per minute poured into the pilot tunnel. All of these challenges required additional work and planning.
The traffic tunnels were started in 1991 and completed in 1996. The tunnel cost was 280 million dollars, the most expensive NPS project ever. At the tallest point, the tunnels are 30-feet high. Cross passages, located every 300-feet, connect the two tunnels and are equipped with fire extinguishers and phones for emergency use. Thick PVC liner around the tunnels ensures that the bores stay dry. Variable message board signs are located in the Cumberland Gap vicinity to warn drivers of impending hazardous traffic and weather conditions or to direct traffic flow.
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel uses a variety of technology to monitor, direct and respond to traffic. A control room operator watches several monitors in order to locate any potential problems which may arise outside or within the tunnels. The tunnel is also equipped with a SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System). SCADA monitors and controls the operation of ventilation fans, carbon monoxide gas monitors, smoke detectors and linear heat detectors, all located in the tunnel ceiling.
Operators are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All of the operators at the Cumberland Gap Tunnel are EMT certified and are able to respond to any emergency. Ambulances, Fire/Rescue trucks, and utility wreckers are located at each portal building.
Tom and I got to tour the Cumberland Gap Tunnel operations center in 2023 with other park staff. Very few local people, however, had ever been able to visit the operations center. Even though they drive through the tunnel every day, tours of the tunnel had never been offered before.
That changed with the Cumberland Gap Tunnel 30th Anniversary celebration. At the suggestion of the interpretive staff at the park, the tunnel manager agreed to open seven tours to the public with 20 people per tour. Park staff would drive people to the tunnel in park vans (because of limited parking) and then tunnel staff would give the tour of the facility.
All of the park staff were very excited about the tunnel tours. We started telling all the local people who came into the park about the tours. They could sign up 30 days ahead, but once the tours were full, they would be closed. There was no cost for the tour but people had to register ahead of time.
Once the tours opened up in September, the phone rang constantly with people signing up. Within a week, all of the tours were full with a waiting list of 70 people. After some negotiations, we increased the number of people on each tour to 30. This required additional staff and another van. Those extra spots were immediately filled by people on the wait list. And people kept calling. We could have easily filled another seven tours.
Finally, the big weekend came – October 16, 17, and 18. We had some cancellations, ahead of time, which caused us to make some people on the wait list very happy. We also had people who showed up about an hour before the tour to be put on a standby list. If someone didn’t show up at the last minute, they could grab the spot. We had a “waiting bench” in the Visitor Center for the people hoping to get on.
I was in charge of checking people in and managing the standby list. I had one couple who came an hour before each of the tours starting on Friday. They said they would keep coming until they got on one. Fortunately, they were able to get on the second tour. Each of the tours was completely full. It was lots of fun to be able to tell the waiting bench, “you can go!” They would cheer and run out to the vans.
The tours themselves were great. Tom drove for two of them. The visitors got to see the operations center, tunnel bore, special tunnel tow trucks and ambulances, emergency equipment, and stood on the tunnel roof to take pictures overlooking the traffic. They weren’t able to take pictures inside the operations center for security reasons. They even got cookies! Everyone loved the tours and was very excited about the opportunity. Many of them stopped by to buy tunnel bling, make a donation to the park, and thank us for making it happen.
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel Anniversary was a wild weekend but it was so much fun to see how excited people were. Some people said it was a bucket list event. All the rangers (and volunteers) fed off the energy. They are hoping to make the tours an annual event so more people have the chance to see inside the operations of the tunnel they drive through regularly.