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Picture of the day -
January 11, 2006
Big Walker Mountain Tunnel
If you have ever traveled I-77 through
Virginia and
West Virginia, you
probably remember driving through Big Walker Mountain Tunnel and its twin
East River Mountain Tunnel (located just a few miles up the interstate on
the Virginia / West Virginia border).
If you're traveling north on I-77, you'll enter the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel
first. Most people who have never driven through a long tunnel are a bit
apprehensive as they approach Big Walker for the first time. There you are,
just driving up the interstate when all of a sudden you round a curve and there is
this huge mountain right in front of you - and it looks like you'll run into the
side of it if you don't stop! But as you get closer, you can see the
tunnels where the road goes into the mountainside. It's really quite an
experience!
Traveling from Virginia to West Virginia through Bland County, Va used to
be quite difficult in spite of the fact that they share a border. Since they sit
squarely on Bland County's southern and northern borders, Big Walker and East
River mountain more or less isolated Bland County from much of Virginia and West
Virginia. Back then, crossing Big Walker Mountain meant driving on US Highway
52, a narrow, curvy two lane road traversing plenty of steep cliffs to imagine
plunging off of - a trip that wasn't for the faint of heart!
In the late 1960's a solution to the problem of traveling into and through Bland
County was developed: I-77 was to be an interstate highway that actually went
through the mountains instead of over them! This meant that two massive
tunnels would have to be constructed - one through each mountain.
The construction of the 4,200 foot long Big Walker Mountain Tunnel was a massive project
indeed. Four tunnel shafts were cut simultaneously through the
mountain, two from each end that hopefully would meet their counterparts in the middle. A perfect survey job
resulted in the tunnels meeting precisely as planned. From the much reported
groundbreaking till its opening in 1972, it took five long years and an
investment of $50 million to build the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel.
Construction of the 5,400 foot long East River Mountain Tunnel was completed in
1974 at a cost of $40 million, finally making for easy travel between the two
Virginias as well as into and through the previously isolated Bland County.
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