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746 views • posted 11/20/2020 • updated 11/23/2020
The Blue Ridge Tunnel interior, West looking East
The Blue Ridge Tunnel was constructed between 1850 and 1858 beneath Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. The tunnel is 4,273-feet-long and approximately 700 feet below the surface at its deepest point. It was originally constructed to move goods and people back and forth from the coastal plain to the Piedmont, Shenandoah Valley and beyond.
The Blue Ridge Tunnel was constructed between 1850 and 1858 beneath Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. The tunnel is 4,273-feet-long and approximately 700 feet below the surface at its deepest point. It was originally constructed to move goods and people back and forth from the coastal plain to the Piedmont, Shenandoah Valley and beyond.
In 1944, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway replaced the 86-year-old Blue Ridge Tunnel with an adjacent tunnel at a slightly lower elevation that could accommodate larger locomotives. In the 1950’s, the Dixie Bottled Gas Corporation built massive concrete bulkheads in the old tunnel with the intent to store propane in the chamber created between the bulkheads. The venture was unsuccessful. The bulkheads created a barrier for walking through the entire tunnel, which sat vacant, unused and reclaimed by nature. That is, until Nelson County envisioned the passage as a major recreational and historical amenity; an economic initiative that will further strengthen the area’s thriving recreation and tourism industry.
In 2001 Nelson County undertook the project that resulted in restoration of the historic tunnel, including plans for the tunnel to become an outdoor public trail. The county acquired the tunnel in 2007 from CSX Inc. and in 2013 purchased easements and land to construct the project’s eastern trail in Nelson County and the western trail in Augusta County. The tunnel project was completed in three phases: eastern trail and parking lot, tunnel restoration and western trail and parking lot. Federal and state grant funding, like RTP, and local funding from Nelson County enabled the tunnel project to be completed and open to the public in 2020.
The total trail length is 2.25 miles and there are parking lots at
both the east and west. Trail width is 10 ft. Cross Slope 1-2%
for the entire trail.
2021: Vermilion Falls Trail
2021: Climax Tunnel Rehabilitation
2020: Milan Trail Huggers Nash Stream Bridge
2019: Weed Patch Mountain Trail
2018: Ouachita National Recreation Trail Shelters - Arkansas and Oklahoma
2017: Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area - Pennsylvania
2016: Kanab Creek OHV Bridge - Utah
2015: Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point Trail Project - Colorado
2015: Joanna Trail Project - Missouri
2014: Abbott Motocross Park - Nebraska
2014: Millersburg Historic Park and Trailhead - Michigan
2013: East and West Twin Creek Bridges - Michigan
2012: Chattahoochee Nature Trails - Florida
2012: Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway - Nevada
2011: Iron Range OHV Recreation Area - Minnesota
2010: Agassiz Recreational Trail - Minnesota
2009: Sam Houston Multiple-Use Trail - Texas
2008: Wanoga Snopark Shelter - Oregon
2007: Potato Knob Trail at Holly River State Park - West Virginia
2006: Indian Canyon Trailhead - California
2006: Upper Waiakea ATV/Dirt Bike Park - Hawaii
2006: County Line Acres Bikeway - Ohio
2005: River Bluff Trail Project - Indiana
2005: Red Creek Bridge - Michigan
2005: MKT Trailhead Project - Missouri
2004: Diana Bend Conservation Area Trail Project - Missouri
2004: Sweetser Switch Trail Project - Indiana
2003: Jane Addams Trail - Illinois
2003: Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Area - West Virginia