When Highway 61 was built, it replaced a road that went quite a bit out of the way to avoid the mountains and cliffs here at Silver Creek. And after then 1920's, there was a narrow two-lane road that went along the cliff's edge. It was rather dramatic as it included the danger of rocks and boulders falling from the cliff walls overhead. This happened more and more often until the folks at the Minnesota DOT decided that it would be easier to just build THROUGH the mountain instead of going around it.
It took over three years of dynamite blasting to remove over half a million cubic feet of rock to construct the tunnel. The tunnel opened in 1994.
The old road is still here and it's a walking/biking path that includes the Gitchi Gami trail that has some spectacular views of Lake Superior. There is a small parking lot on the north side of the tunnel on the east side of the road.
There is no toll to use the tunnel.
[Review 17889 overall - 109 in Minnesota - 1410 of 2022.] read more