With construction proceeding from either side a decade before the invention of dynamite, the complex was dug through solid granite with only hand drills and black powder. Construction began in 1850 and was expected to be completed in three years but the first train passed through the tunnel in 1858 and construction continued until 1860.
Overseen by Crozet, the crossing was accomplished by building four tunnels, including the 4,237-foot (1,291 m) Blue Ridge Tunnel near the top of the pass.
Rather than attempting the more formidable Swift Run Gap, the state-owned Blue Ridge Railroad built over the mountains at the next major gap to the south, Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain. To protect its investment and enable transportation, the State then incorporated and financed the Blue Ridge Railroad to accomplish the hard and expensive task of crossing the Blue Ridge mountain barrier to the west. Rail service reached Charlottesville by 1851 westward, the railroad closely followed the alignment of the ancient Three Notch'd Road. The Virginia Board of Public Works, founded in 1816, supported numerous internal improvements in the state, owning part of the Virginia Central in stock as well as virtually all of the Blue Ridge Railroad.Ī civil engineer of considerable skill, Crozet had identified the eventual route as early as 1839. Its purpose was to provide a crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Virginia Central Railroad into the Shenandoah Valley. The Blue Ridge Railroad was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1849 with Claudius Crozet as chief engineer. In late 2020, after a decade of stabilization work and restoration as well as access pathway construction, the tunnel was opened to visitors as a linear park. The old Blue Ridge Tunnel has since been named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976. The new tunnel was named the "Blue Ridge Tunnel" as well, although the original tunnel still remains abandoned nearby. The Chesapeake and Ohio routed trains through the tunnel until it was abandoned and replaced by a new tunnel in 1944. The tunnel was used by the Virginia Central Railroad from its opening to 1868, when the line was reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (renamed Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1878). The tunnel was the westernmost and longest of four tunnels engineered by Claudius Crozet to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap in central Virginia.Īt 4,237 feet (1,291 m) in length, the tunnel was the longest tunnel in the United States at the time of its completion. The Blue Ridge Tunnel (also known as the Crozet Tunnel) is a historic railroad tunnel built during the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1850s. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) Mountain Subdivision – previously C&O Railroad and Blue Ridge RailroadĪugusta / Nelson counties, near Rockfish Gap, Virginiaģ8☀2′18″N 78★1′45″W / 38.0383°N 78.8625°W / 38.0383 -78.8625 Coordinates: 38☀2′18″N 78★1′45″W / 38.0383°N 78.8625°W / 38.0383 -78.8625 (Northwest Portal of new tunnel)Ībandoned, replaced by new tunnel currently in operationĬhesapeake and Ohio Railroad (1870–1878) Ĭhesapeake and Ohio Railway (1878–1944)
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