Nada Tunnel

Stanton, Kentucky

Although now vehicle-only, the Nada Tunnel was originally built for a narrow-gauge railroad to haul logs out of the Red River Gorge. 13 feet high, only 12 feet wide, and 900 feet long, it took nearly a year to drill, dig, and dynamite. Amazingly, this lengthy excavation killed only one man.

The tunnel started as an even tighter squeeze, but it had to be enlarged in 1912 when its first load of logs became jammed in the passage and had to be dynamited free. The tunnel was necessary because the logs from the Gorge were so big that they had to be hauled 15 miles to Clay City, which had what was then the largest sawmill in the eastern U.S.

Today, the train tracks have been replaced by a road. Travelers, pretending to be logs, can now drive through the one-way tunnel. There are no traffic lights at either end to prevent midway discomfort -- drivers must watch for headlights before proceeding.