Belle Chasse Tunnel

The Belle Chasse Tunnel was built starting in March 1954 to accommodate the new branch of the Intracoastal Canal. After nearly two years of construction, the $2,436,000 structure opened in February 1956 with the Canal beginning operations later that year. The politicians in Plaquemines Parish chose to construct a tunnel as opposed to a drawbridge as to enable continuous flow of traffic. According to engineers and various 1956 issues of the Plaquemines Gazette, the tunnel was the first fully automatic underwater tunnel in the world as it did not require any operating personnel. The tunnel had ventilation machinery that automatically change the tunnel's air every two minutes with automatic generators taking over if the machinery fails.

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Wikimedia, Wikidata
road tunnel, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Q30, 

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Location: 29.8719, -90.0089, KML, Cluster Map, Maps,
1 places

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  Belle Chasse Tunnel ⓘ
  Tunnel in Louisiana, U.S.

Frameless

BELLE CHASSE UNN

BELLE CHASSE TUNNEL Inside

BELLE CHASSE UNN

BELLE CHASSE TUNNEL Inside

Type	Subtype	Date	Description	Notes	Source
site	tunnel		Belle Chasse Tunnel	Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, road tunnel	Wikidata
commons	image		BELLE CHASSE UNN		Commons
commons	image		BELLE CHASSE TUNNEL Inside		Commons
commons	image		BELLE CHASSE UNN		Commons
commons	image		BELLE CHASSE TUNNEL Inside		Commons