Artifact of the Month: June 2024

Ketchikan's Tunnel Turns 70

The precursor to Water Street was a 10-foot-wide wooden boardwalk on pilings that skirted the rocky outcropping separating downtown Ketchikan from all points north. Incrementally, the walkway expanded into a narrow wood planked road wide enough to accommodate early automobiles. As the community grew, so did the need to expand north and south of downtown. The widening of Water Street, also known as the Waterfront Arterial project, was one of Ketchikan's most ambitious construction projects.

Between 1953 and 1954, Tongass Avenue from Talbot's Building Supply to the intersection with Grant Street was widened and reinforced. The project also included the excavation of a 275' long by 19' high tunnel, as well as an arterial road around the tunnel. Disruption of pedestrian and automobile traffic in the downtown area was as bad as road construction is today. To alleviate traffic congestion and parking issues, City administration installed a temporary light to regulate the flow of traffic around the tunnel, assigned a phone number for people to call for road closure updates, and increased police patrols. The system was not perfect, but it allowed for continuous use while the street was improved.

The tunnel reached Grant Street in January 1954 and officially opened to traffic by fall of that year. This month's featured artifact is a photograph taken on April 3, 1954 showing the rock cut and construction efforts from the north portal of the tunnel. It comes from a scrapbook created by the City of Ketchikan's Public Works department documenting the road project.


Object ID #: KM 92.2.5.45