While Emily and I were cruising an older alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa a few weekends ago, she noticed what appeared to be an entranceway to an underground pedestrian tunnel that goes under Admiral Place (aka 66) near Harvard Avenue.
Sure enough, it was. It was locked at the time we checked it, but it was obvious from the shiny padlock that the tunnel still was still in service.
We’d passed by this area dozens of times, but never noticed this entranceway on Admiral, mostly because it tended to be overshadowed by the striking architecture of the nearby Crosstown Church of Christ.
Apparently other Route 66 researchers had overlooked this tunnel, also. An online search for it revealed nothing. Jim Ross, author of “Oklahoma Route 66,” told me he had been unaware of it, and he knows as much about Route 66 in the Sooner State as anyone.
These structures hearken back to an era when Route 66 was so choked with traffic, officials deemed it necessary to build the tunnels so pedestrians — especially schoolchildren — could cross the road safely. A number of Route 66 tunnels still exist in El Reno, Chelsea, Sayre and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma. Another was partially excavated a few years ago in Odell, Ill. I’ve been told there are more in the Los Angeles area.
And there’s another tunnel in Tulsa on the newer Route 66 alignment of 11th Street, near Yale Avenue. However, this tunnel was closed many years ago, and only traces are left. The tunnel on Admiral remains the only Route 66 pedestrian tunnel that remains in use.
I surmised the Admiral Place tunnel was built after Sequoyah Elementary School, just two blocks north, opened in 1927.
John Murphey, with the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, inspected the tunnel with us on a recent evening when it was open. After seeing bits of exposed rebar, the now-unused lighting fixtures, and the structure’s Art Deco touches, he said it almost certainly dated before 1940.
(The “cage” over the top of the tunnel, which prevents litter and people from jumping into it, was built some years afterward.)
But, as old as the tunnel is, evidence is lacking on whether it existed when Admiral Place was designated as Route 66 from 1926 to 1932. The City of Tulsa possesses no records on its construction. A preliminary search of newspaper archives from that period revealed nothing.
About the only possible direct evidence so far of the tunnel’s age came from Gary Howell at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. He wrote in an e-mail:
I found records of where the State built a Pedestrian Underpass on 11th Street when we constructed the new US 66 roadway in Tulsa. This Pedestrian Underpass was completed March 11, 1934. I also found that all known Pedestrian Underpasses the State have built in Tulsa was from the 1932 standards.
I have not found any records of the State building a pedestrian underpass under Admiral Place.
So, even if the tunnel was built by the state, it’s likely the construction began shortly before or after Route 66 was moved to 11th Street in Tulsa.
Or the tunnel was built in the late ’20s or early ’30s, and records about this are missing. Perhaps supporting data will turn up later.
But in the meantime, you can still get your kicks under Route 66 in Tulsa.
(Photos by Ron Warnick and Emily Priddy)
I am so fascinated by “forgotten” places like this. I have read about underground pedestrian walkways due to Route 66 traffic…how wonderful to see pictures of one, and thank you for doing so much research on this!
Many of the tunnels in the LA area are still in use, and there are simply far too many that still exist in LA on 66 to start naming them all.
It’s cool that, even today, there are things about Route 66 (and I’m sure the Lincoln Highway, Highway 50, etc.) that STILL haven’t been discovered by us.
Ron,
I remember the Admiral tunnel very well.
Especially the day back about 1958 when my mother sent me to Ann’s Bakery to pick up cupcakes for my brother’s birthday party. A wicked thunderstorm sent me to shelter in the tunnel for about an hour while I carried the big box home.
We also used the tunnel to visit the record shop at the corner. I think it was Bill’s T Records.
A childhood friend of mine was hit by a car and killed about a half a block from the tunnel while crossing Admiral. The teachers at Sequoyah reminded us not to scamper across the street if we could use the tunnel.
There’s a crosswalk over 244 not far from the tunnel so pedestrians can still get across the superslab.
Regards,
Mike
I had featured the Admiral tunnel on my blog of March 15, after you mentioned tunnels (https://aftonstationblog-laurel.blogspot.com/search?q=tunnel+admiral) but didn’t go into it. Interesting. Like you, I’d passed it many times and never noticed it before then.
There’s a tunnel under old US 64 (Charles Page Blvd) in west Tulsa near Mark Twain Elementary School.
You are correct on the Admiral and Harvard tunnel. I grew up on Second Place (south of Admiral) in the ’50s and attended Sequoyah (north of Admiral). We were told by our parents that we HAD to use the “underpass”, but we were never to enter it alone or if we saw an adult going into it before we got to the enterance. Needless to say, we always ran thru it.
In the early 70s, I lived close to Admiral and Knoxville and went to Sequoya school. The city has completely filled it in and removed the entrance, so you’d never know it was there if you didn’t remember it. We kids didn’t use it much. I don’t think the lights were working then, it was always dark and scary.