Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel was a 9,394 ft (2,863 m) long railroad tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

 at an elevation of 10,953 ft (3,338 m) in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. It was built by the Busk Tunnel Railway Company for the Colorado Midland Railroad in 1891 as a replacement for the Hagerman Tunnel

Hagerman Tunnel

Hagerman Tunnel was a 2,161 ft railroad tunnel crossing the Continental Divide in Colorado at an altitude of 11,528 ft ....

 at a lower, more direct route.

The tunnel was briefly abandoned following Colorado Midland's 1897 bankruptcy, but returned to use a few years later.

It was converted to auto traffic in 1922 as the Carlton Tunnel, a toll tunnel carrying then-State Highway 104, closing in 1943 after a tunnel collapse.

Since 1962, the tunnel has been used as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project

The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, or "Fry-Ark," is a water diversion, storage and delivery project serving southeastern Colorado. The project was authorized in 1962 by President Kennedy, construction began that same year, and was completed in 1981...

to carry water across the Continental Divide. It presently moves water between Ivanhoe Lake and Busk Creek.

External links

• Photo of the tunnel's west portal as a rail tunnel, between 1890 and 1910
• Photo of the tunnel's east portal as an auto tunnel, 1929