| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Auburn, Pennsylvania |
| Status | open cut, abandoned |
| System | Schuylkill Canal |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 1818[1] |
| Opened | 1821[1] |
| Owner | Schuylkill Navigation Company |
| Technical | |
| Length | 450 feet (140 m)[2] |
| Highest elevation | 471 feet (144 m) above Delaware River, mid tide[3] |
| Tunnel clearance | 22 feet (6.7 m)[1] |
| Width | 15 feet (4.6 m)[1] |
Auburn Tunnel was a 19th century canal tunnel built for the Schuylkill Canal, near Auburn, Pennsylvania. Auburn Tunnel was the first transportation tunnel built in the United States.[4]
The tunnel was deliberately added to the canal to be a novelty, as the hill it was bored though could have easily been bypassed. The tunnel succeeded in becoming a major attraction, with people traveling over 97 miles (156 km)[3] upriver from Philadelphia just to see it. The tunnel was periodically shortened and in 1857 was daylighted to become just an open-cut.[4]
