Burlington Tunnel

The Burlington Tunnel (also known as the North Avenue Rail Tunnel) is a railroad tunnel located in Burlington, Vermont, and is owned and operated by the New England Central Railroad (NECR). According to the inscription on its southern entrance, the Burlington Tunnel was constructed beginning on 1 November 1860, and completed on 17 May 1861 for a predecessor railroad to the Central Vermont Railway. The tunnel runs in a northeast–southwest curve, while the external approach trackage runs from south to east. The street overpassing the Burlington Tunnel is North Avenue (Functional classification of 16; Urban Minor Arterial) which has an Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) of about 12,000 vehicles.

Tunnel dimensions

The Burlington Rail Tunnel, located at Milepost 1.15 of the NECR Winooski spur line, is a 340-foot (100 m) long brick masonry horseshoe shaped tunnel that passes through the sandy ridge supporting North Avenue (Burlington) on a curve of approximately four degrees. North Avenue runs in a north to south direction while the tunnel runs approximately in an east to west direction. The tunnel, constructed in 1860, originally had an overall height of approximately 17 feet (5.2 m) (prior to the 2008 repairs, which lowered the floor of the tunnel) and a width of roughly 14 feet (4.3 m) at the base, increasing to approximately 16 feet (4.9 m) wide at approximately 9 feet (2.7 m) above top of rail. The tunnel provides passage for a single track over ballast. The track grade is generally level. A major gas line runs from a building on the southeast quadrant of the existing tunnel structure easterly across the wetlands and under the Burlington Connector highway (VT Route 127) to the east.