Photos: Repairs of 66 year old Harvey Tunnel will close it for two years; Then & Now
READ DETAILS HERE: Louisiana has only three highway tunnels. This one is closed for two years.
The lighted entrance to the Harvey Tunnel is seen in 1957.
A worker walks through the Harvey Tunnel during its two-year rehabilitation on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
The West Bank Expressway entrance to the Harvey Tunnel is closed for a two-year rehabilitation of the tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A work crew with Mobile Enterprises Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, reinforce rails with fresh cement inside the Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A work crew with O'Brien Flooring Inc. of Slidell chisels concrete from the walls inside the Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A worker holds a sample of the old tile that was chiseled off the Harvey Tunnel walls on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A work crew with O'Brien Flooring Inc. of Slidell chisels concrete from the walls inside the Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Samples of new tiles are on display in the Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A work crew with O'Brien Flooring Inc. of Slidell chisels concrete from the walls inside Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. The tunnel, beneath the Harvey Canal that connects the Mississippi River to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, is expected to be closed for most of two years for rehabilitation.
A work crew with Mobile Enterprises Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, reinforces rails with fresh cement inside the Harvey Tunnel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
A crowd gathered for the Harvey Tunnel dedication in 1957.
During construction of the Harvey Tunnel in 1955, Intracoastal Waterway traffic continues without interruption in half of the canal. The structure that protrudes into the canal is a framework of spreaders to keep cofferdams protecting the work from collapsing because of water pressure. When half of the tunnel is completed, it will be sealed off and the protective framework removed. River traffic will then pass over the completed half while construction proceeds on the other half. Palmer and Banker Inc., engineers for the project, say the tunnel will be finished within a year.
Huge pillars to support the West Bank Expressway bridge over the Harvey Canal are positioned next to the Harvey Tunnel.
The Harvey Tunnel was opened with speeches, a ribbon-cutting and a motorcade in 1957.
The Harvey Tunnel is closed for two years while workers rehabilitate it on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Firefighters and rescue workers go through the wreckage of a multi-vehicle collision in the Harvey Tunnel on Friday, May 30, 2008.
Harvey Tunnel - Harvey Canal bridge piers in construction --- Piers for a new high rise bridge over the Harvey Canal on the West Bank are rising above the Harvey Tunnel. The new bridge will become the principal crossing of the canal for the West Bank Expressway, which is to be improved into a fully-elevated freeway connecting the Greater New Orleans Bridge and the proposed parallel span with points throughout the West Bank. The tunnel will become the canal crossing for the expressway frontage roads.
Harvey Tunnel ceremoniously opened with speeches, ribbon-cutting, motorcade.
The Harvey Canal drawbridge on Fourth Street is broken and out of service for "possibly several days," according to the Louisiana Highway Department. The breakdown came early this week and immediately a traffic congestion problem presented itself at the Harvey Tunnel, the only other means of crossing the canal. Out of service for "possibly several days" is the drawbridge across the Harvey Canal on Fourth Street, requiring detour of all motor traffic to the Harvey Tunnel on the West Bank Expressway.
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The Harvey Tunnel in Jefferson Parish is one of just three highway tunnels across the state …