The last "Aweful Tunnel" to be replaced

[Brad]

I got an email from one of the local Rail Enthusiasts that the last "Aweful Tunnel" 50th street will be replaced

[S33]

Why is it an "awful tunnel?"

[Coyote]

One lane, no shoulder, low speed if you see an SUV coming the other way.

[Brad]

Mangelsen's coined the phrase in their advertising during the late 70' and early 80's. "Just north of the Awful Tunnel!"

[iamjacobm]

Is it this guy?

[Brad]

Yep, that is it.

[BRoss]

That's cool. So why exactly are they replacing it? Also, will it be along the same path, or will they slightly redirect it like they did at Center just east of Industrial? It looks like they could possibly close half of the tracks and build a new bridge and then do the other half once they finish the first half.

[Brad]

Here are 4 photos from Tom Zorko's Collection of the 84th Street Tunnel.

1. This firs one shows the new bridge on top of the old Tunnel:


2. This one shows most of the fill removed:


3. cars in the Tunnel


4. And this is why its the "Awful Tunnel"

[BRoss]

Wow, I can't believe 84th St used to be like that. Traffic would be a mess if that still existed! And it's cool how they built the bridge before removing the ground below. I wonder if 120th was that small too and if they did the same thing there.

But anyways, I think it will be interesting to watch them replace the tunnel at 50th. I used to drive through there just about everyday a few years back.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

I remember being really upset as a kid when they replaced the 120th St tunnel with a bridge. I thought driving through that tunnel was so exciting.

[GetUrban]

It's kind of amazing they built the railroad up that high across town to begin with. The grades were just too steep across all of the valleys running north-south, I guess. That really created a real barrier between the north and south sides.

I remember they called it the "beautiful bypass" (edit...just remembered it was the "delightful detour" until the awful tunnel was gone) in ads during construction of the 84th st. trestle. ...and then the "terrific trestle" after it was done.

[Brad]

It's kind of amazing they built the railroad up that high across town to begin with. The grades were just too steep across all of the valleys running north-south, I guess. That really created a real barrier between the north and south sides.

Here is a photo of them building it:

[GetUrban]

Great photo, thanks for posting. That would be cool if it was still just a huge exposed trestle structure like that. It would attract a lot of pigeons & birds though, not to mention climbers.

Since you're a railroad buff, Do you know if they just buried that structure, or was it removed as they built-up the long mound of earth under the tracks? I would imagine the structure is still buried under the mound.

[Brad]

Its still burred in there. You can see a few of the timbers sticking out on one of the bike trails. I can't remember if its the one by 84th or closer to 60th.

That trestle was just one track to build up the dirt. After it was all built up, it was changed to double track.

[GetUrban]

That is very interesting. After all the years I've lived in Omaha, I never realized that track was built 95 feet up above the Papio, with the trestle still buried underneath parts of it. I remember playing baseball as a kid on some fields just south of the tracks. Kids were always tempted to climb the hill up to the tracks. I was too chicken or busy playing baseball to ever climb up there...probably not a good idea anyway.

[Brad]

That is very interesting. After all the years I've lived in Omaha, I never realized that track was built 95 feet up above the Papio, with the trestle still buried underneath parts of it.  I remember playing baseball as a kid on some fields just south of the tracks. Kids were always tempted to climb the hill up to the tracks. I was too chicken or busy playing baseball to ever climb up there...probably not a good idea anyway.

Here are a few more photos:
http://up150.com/timeline/lane-cutoff" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another interesting fact is that track, The "Lane Cutoff" was a short cut from the original Trans-Continental Railroad that went through Papillion and Millard.

[skinzfan23]

Thanks Brad for the info:
Here is another picture of the building of the cutoff. Amazing to see the scope of the project with the construction train dumping fill for the cutoff.

[Brad]

I went out tonight an got a shot of the tunnel on 50th. I need to get back out there. There are a few things I would like to change on this shot.

[Coyote]

[Brad]

I talked to the guy that have me this info again today. He said he heard it on KMTV channel 3 news. However he talked to someone from the UP who didn't know anything about it... Who knows what's going on...

[Turtle9160]

If I remember correctly, I was told the reason the railroad built the truss and then covered it with fill dirt was to keep the tracks from being washed out when the creeks flooded back then. That whole strech was flood plain until the levee system was built as Omaha expanded west. I am impressed they were able to build something like that back then.

[GetUrban]

From a construction logistics standpoint, it made a lot of sense to have the track and trestle there first so the massive amount of dirt could be brought in by train and simply dumped into place from above. They could have just left the wood trestle exposed, but I read that the dirt fill helped make the trestle fire-proof and increased the longevity of the wood trestle itself. It would be interesting to know how long it will last.

[Brad]

Here is an update I got.

The TV 3 news story of replacing the 50th street tunnel under the UP mainline is false. The source of the story was a contractor's "wondering" that since the state is adding on to I-80 - it would be a good time to rebuilt 50th street in the area. TV 3 took the story and ran with it without checking with the state or the railroad.

[GetUrban]

I suppose the volume of traffic going through the 50th Street tunnel is probably not enough to justify the expense, unless they had a reason to upgrade the railroad structure above also.

Nonetheless, it was very interesting reading about how they built the Lane Cutoff.