Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is famous for (among other things) its three intersecting rivers and the vibrant yellow bridges that cut across them. I lived for five years in that strange little sliver of West Virginia that rests against the Pennsylvania border, and my family frequently trekked to Pittsburgh by way of the Fort Pitt Tunnel:
Image: Fort Pitt Tunnel by KitAy, on Flickr
For kids like me and my siblings, the Fort Pitt Tunnel wasn’t just a logical transportation route. It was a competitive physical challenge. The challenge, of course, was to see which of us could hold our breath through the entire tunnel, from shadowy first entrance to final explosion of light. At 3,614 feet, a car could theoretically drive through at 55mph in about 45 seconds under perfect conditions, so the challenge was not impossible. But in modest-to-heavy traffic, as an 8-year-old, while chewing a foot of bubble tape, with someone tickling you, it was pretty tough.
Here is a poem that I wrote that matches my memory of the tunnel. Try to take a deep breath and hold it in until you finish reading the poem. Ready? Inhale! …
I exercised my poetic license on the tunnel’s winding path (it is actually straight), but the “sunny bridge view” at the end really is a sight to behold. I could not dream up a more dramatic entrance into a city if I tried. If you’ve never been there, this clip brings it to life in full video and audio (tunnel view sped up to 200% for effect):
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Love it.
On a less happy note, I timed this post to mark the official conclusion of the twentieth consecutive losing season (1993-2012) for Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates.
The team contended for most of the 2012 season, but for the second year in a row collapsed at the end with a dismal 17-37 record in the final third of the season. Even winning 20 of those last 54 games (still awful) would have earned them 82+ wins for the first time since Barry Bonds left town.
Pirates fans must be running out of breath. Hopefully their time in the Tunnell tunnel will come to an end soon.