This tunnel is in the Southern entrance of the canyon.
Jill and I walked up to it once, but it appeared someone was living in there.
I had always thought it was a railroad tunnel but when you go up there you realize it was a paved road and it is completely falling apart. The entrance to the tunnel has a huge pile of boulders you have to climb up just to be able to look inside of it. When I climbed up on the rocks to look inside there was a camp fire of some sort way at the far end. I decided we better leave because somone has made it their home and I didnt think they would want us walking through their living room.
The tunnel was finished being built in 1921 and it was a gravel road, then in 1932 it was changed to concrete. In the 1950s it was starting to become outdated because of the increase of fruit and logging trucks. In 1963 the tunnel was abandoned.
It is hard to imagine driving a car through that tunnel and down the hill next to a river with the breaks that came on a car built in the 1930s (No thanks)..
Twin Tunnel Time Line
1921 Tunnel Construction Completed
1932 Roadway paved with concrete slabs
1934 Roadway designated Primary State Hwy No. 3 or PSH 3
1962 Tunnel changed to alternating one-way traffic with signals
1963 Highway realigned next to Yakima River and RR tracks
1963 Tunnel abandoned
1964 PSH 3 changes to US 97
1971 I-82 completed
1971 Old highway renamed SR 821
