OFFICIAL NAME:
OTHER DESIGNATION:
Piney Fork Rd Tunnel
glas587-38
LOCATION:
South Park Twp (Snowden)
USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Glassport - Zone 17; 0587 4458
CARRIES:
-- Piney Fork Rd
-- Piney Run
BETWEEN:
-- Snowden Rd
UNDER:
CSX [B&O RR]
TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
vertical wall horseshoe profile, filled concrete arch, through filled embankment
TOTAL LENGTH:
176.5 ft
OTHER DIMENSIONS:
40 ft wide; 20 ft roadway, 20 ft stream
12 ft 3 in posted clearance
7 ft from road surface to spring line of arch
13 ft from stream surface to spring line of arch
33 ft est to top of arch rise
YEAR OPENED / ENGINEER:
ADDITIONAL INFO:
The Wheeling, Pittsburgh & Baltimore Railroad, 66.5 miles long through Wheeling and Wheeling Junction (Glenwood on the Monongahela River), was begun in 1851. The line between Wheeling and Washington, PA, was completed and opened for traffic prior to 1857. The line from Washington, PA, and Wheeling Junction was completed in sections as a narrow gauge railroad, and was standardized in 1883. Ferry service over the Monongahela River was maintained to West Homestead (Glenwood) until 1884 when the first bridge at Wheeling Junction was completed.
The line was incorporated into the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, later becoming part of CSX.
This tunnel is also known as "Corvette Tunnel." The adjacent tunnel, formerly the link between the PRR Peters Creek Branch and the Montour RR, is said to be the haunted "Greenman's Tunnel."
FIELD CHECKED:
08-Oct-2001
INFO SOURCES:
"Railroads of the Pittsburgh district: a part of the Pittsburgh plan," Citizens Committee on City Plan of Pittsburgh, 1923.
