The Abandoned Boone Tunnel, Wilmore, Kentucky

Built in the 1920s when the “highway” was redesigned, this small tunnel funneled automobile traffic directly onto the “Brooklyn Bridge” over the Kentucky River. Unfortunately a portion of the bridge collapsed in 1953 when a food service truck crossing the bridge strained the superstructure beyond capacity and a portion of the bridge collapsed into the river below. A year later in 1954 a new bridge was built just 100 yards downriver bypassing the former bridge and Boone Tunnel. Today the tunnel sits unused but reminds us of a more rugged and slower pace in rural Kentucky.