1998 Excellence in Highway Design Category 9 - Highway Improvements on Publicly Owned Land Merit Award
Cumberland Gap Tunnel
Cumberland Gap, Tennessee to Middlesboro, Kentucky
Cumberland Gap Tunnel
Designer: Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglass, Herndon, VA
Contractors: S.A.Healy / Lodigiana USA LTD, Chicago, IL;
Archer-Western Contractors, LTD., Atlanta, GA
Construction of the dual tubes through Cumberland Mountain represents a combination of dozens of existing engineering technologies that have enhanced travel safety, preserved the environment, and respected history. After 17 years of planning, design, and construction, the completion of the tunnel now means that the Gap itself may be returned to its late 1700's appearance when Daniel Boone led the settlers west.