Hidden Appalachian gems

I don't know how many of you have made the long trek from Canada down the series of interstates to the sunny south of the USA, but in the event that you haven't, you've missed seeing firsthand some of the most stunningly beautiful vistas this side of our Canadian Rockies. My mom, and by default we, choose to make the drive by going on along Lake Erie on I90 to I79, I77, I26, and I95 before descending the length of Florida on I75. A small part of that drive includes vistas that feature some pretty amazing feats of engineering when I77 takes you through West Virginia and into Virginia using first the East River Mountain tunnel (ERMT) then the Big Walker Mountain tunnel (BWMT).

With apologies to my FB/IG friends who live on either the left or right coast of Canada and are used to stunning vistas, a great many Canadians are not regularly faced with the incredulous engineering required to tunnel a highway through a mountain or two, all in an effort to make travel between places easier, safer, and less time consuming. Both the East River and Big Walker Mountains are formidable portions of the Appalachian range that would require heroic nerves of steel to use the skinny dirt roads bereft of today's safety precautions like guard rails and lights. Matters would be even worse in colder wintery conditions.

As we travelled through the ERMT, my mother and I discussed first the epic engineering efforts that would be extended in the construction of the tunnel, then logically followed with concern for the health of the people who would have been employed to dig their way through. My mother was the one who suggested that I do a little digging for a post about the history surrounding the ERMT and BWMT.

There's surprisingly little available, but here's some of it:

The East River Mountain tunnel is 1650m (5412 ft or about 1 mile), requiring the vehicle and occupants using the 55 mph speed limit to stay subterranean for a discomforting length of time, all the while being bathed in the staccato bursts of the ceiling's lights, a potential epileptic hazard, so I am told. Prior to building the tunnel, travellers wishing to cross the state line had to navigate the narrow, twisting, guardrail-less route of US 52 up and over the mountain (now designated as SR 598 and WV 598). The journey would have been arduous, and the road was occasionally closed completely due to treacherous conditions like fog or snow, when present (Source), in addition to being very narrow and difficult to pass on. With the mountain topping a formidable elevation of more than 914m (3,000 feet), the decision to go through, rather than over or around was the logical choice.

Construction began on August 12, 1969, and after five years, it was opened to the public at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 20, 1974. Costing a then mind-blowing sum of $40 million (equivalent to $173 million in 2021), it was the most expensive construction project undertaken by the West Virginia Division of Highways at the time. With the northern end of the tunnel in West Virginia and the southern end in Virginia, both states shared the cost of the project. Interesting factoid: The state line falls almost exactly across the midpoint of the tunnel with 51% of the tunnel is in West Virginia, the remaining 49% is on the Virginia side.

The work was difficult, the TNT explosions were loud, and the mud was deep. Caves underneath the mountain created sinkholes and sunk part of the tunnel two feet requiring concrete be hauled in to correct the problem. More than 944m (30,000 ft) of lumber was also hauled in to support the tunnel. While construction of the tunnel provided many jobs, it also required working in very muddy working conditions that were difficult and time-consuming. Workers received weekly wages ranging from three to four hundred dollars, which was based on a forty hour work week. (Source)

Like its bigger brother, construction of the 1289m (4229 ft) Big Walker Tunnel and adjacent roadways took five years. It was opened in 1972 at the cost of $50 million (equivalent to $249 million in 2021). It made history at that time as the most expensive single project undertaken on a Virginia interstate system. Closures for repairs in the tunnels are in 15-minute intervals to perform maintenance, air quality testing, as well as fire and safety upgrades to the ventilation system. Some drivers may confess to fears about breathing in car emissions, but automatic sensing analyzes the amount of carbon monoxide and adjusts the ventilation system, plus generator back up for power in case of a failure. Traffic lights can slow or stop the traffic in case of accidents, and fire extinguishers and telephones are available at regular intervals along the route. (Source)

I spent what I consider to be a significant amount of time looking for information of the construction conditions of both tunnels and any resulting casualties, but while there's information on a variety of WV tunnels, none directly attributed to either the ERMT or BWMT. Having said that, one can only imagine the horrific conditions of burrowing, blasting, and supporting the resultant hole, likely leading to a wide assortment of acute and chronic ailments besetting the workers. Definitely NOT a job that appeals to me!

Blog research and post challenge accepted and conquered ... sort of!