Massive rehab effort continues
EAST BRADY — A light is beginning to form at the end of the Brady Tunnel.
Chris Ziegler, executive director of the Allegheny Valley Land Trust in Kittanning, said the first phase to rehabilitate the 1915 tunnel is complete, and Phase II should begin within the next few months.
The Allegheny Valley Land Trust is leading a $6 million project to rehabilitate the 2,468-foot long tunnel and upgrade five miles of the Armstrong Trail to the north of the tunnel.
Once finished, the project will close a gap in the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail, a multiuse trail more than 300 miles long.
Phase I of the project was the most ambitious portion, costing $1.3 million.
That phase included design and engineering costs, repair of 50 feet of the northern entrance to the tunnel and the repair of a 20-foot hole in that entrance that has allowed water into the tunnel for decades.
With Phase I complete, Ziegler is moving on to the $1 million second phase of the project.
The tunnel liner, which prevents brick from falling from the ceiling and keeps water from leaking into the tunnel, will be extended 90 feet from where workers left off in Phase I, Ziegler said.
Workers will also tear down the old wooden “flume” that carried water from the top of the tunnel and a new, more modern runoff-diversion structure will be installed.The trust will request bids for the work in mid- to late January, and work should begin in the next few months, Ziegler said.The trust received a $500,000 matching grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Phase II and has $543,000 in matching funds to complete the project.While the trust was not awarded a $3 million Multi Modal grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development for 2020, Ziegler will reapply for the grant in the next cycle.Ziegler said that if the trust had received the $3 million grant, the tunnel could likely have been opened with limitations.Without the grant, there is no estimate as to when a limited opening could take place.Ziegler said the historic tunnel will not be open for some time.
“There are many more phases, but it depends on when funding comes in,” she said.She hopes to receive more grants as well as donations from various foundations to rehab and preserve the tunnel, which she said is a marvel of construction for 1915.The half-mile-long tunnel, which is on a curve of the old railroad, is made of huge blocks that were expertly laid without the assistance of modern machinery.“They did have a steam shovel, but that was it,” Ziegler said.She said according to historical records, the tunnel collapsed several times during construction. At one point, a collapse buried the steam shovel.
“They had to dig it out and keep going,” she said.Many who are interested in the Brady Tunnel's rehabilitation are history buffs, rather than trail enthusiasts, Ziegler said.“This is a piece of our history,” she said. “If we didn't do it, it would collapse and no one would know about it.”
