The Blue Ridge Tunnel was constructed between 1849 and 1859 beneath Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. It first opened in 1858 to allow rail access through Afton Mountain. Designed by French immigrant Claudius Crozet, the chief engineer, the 4,273-foot-long passage took nearly nine years to build, employed mostly Irish immigrant laborers, and was the longest tunnel in North America when it was constructed. At its deepest point, it lies about 700 feet below the surface. In 1944, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway replaced the 86-year-old tunnel with an adjacent tunnel at a slightly lower elevation that could accommodate larger locomotives. In the 1950's, the Dixie Bottled Gas Corporation built massive concrete bulkheads inside it in an unsuccessful attempt to store propane in the chamber between them, and those bulkheads blocked passage through the full tunnel until their removal in 2019 during Phase II of the Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail Project. In 2001 Nelson County began the effort that led to restoration of the historic tunnel and plans to make it an outdoor public trail. The county acquired the tunnel in 2007 from CSX Inc. and in 2013 purchased easements and land for the eastern trail in Nelson County and the western trail in Augusta County. Completed in three phases covering the eastern trail and parking lot, tunnel restoration, and the western trail and parking lot, the project was funded by federal, state, and local sources and opened to the public in 2020 with assistance from major partners including the Virginia Department of Transportation, Commonwealth Transportation Board, City of Waynesboro, Wooolpert Inc, Fielder's Choice Enterprises Inc, Whitesell Group, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation.

Photo: Craig Swain

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Afton, Virginia · USA