From Highway Icon to Mushroom Haven: The Story of West Virginia’s Memorial Tunnel

If you’ve ever driven the West Virginia Turnpike, you’ve traced a route that once dove straight through Paint Creek Mountain via the Memorial Tunnel—a 2,802-foot engineering feat that opened in 1954. Decades later, the same tunnel is home to a cutting-edge agricultural reuse: an Appalachian mushroom farm turning infrastructure into opportunity. Few places on Earth have made a leap like this—from four-lane traffic problem to fungi paradise—and the West Virginia Turnpike is at the center of it.

Where the West Virginia Turnpike Met the Mountain

Built as part of the post-war expansion of the West Virginia Turnpike, the Memorial Tunnel was bored through Paint Creek Mountain to tame one of the pike’s toughest ridges. It opened on November 8, 1954, cost roughly $5 million, and stretched 2,802 feet. It was also reportedly the first U.S. highway tunnel monitored by closed-circuit television, which gives you a sense of how futuristic the Turnpike felt in that era—often called “88 miles of miracle.” Wikipedia

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, as traffic exploded, the West Virginia Turnpike was widened from two lanes to four. Everything was upgraded—except the tunnel. That created a notorious bottleneck as a modern divided highway necked down to a two-lane tube with a lower speed limit. In 1987, a new alignment bypassed the tunnel entirely, and the Memorial Tunnel went dark. Wikipedia

A Global Proving Ground: Fire & Ventilation Science Under the Turnpike

Dark didn’t mean dormant. In the 1990s, the decommissioned tunnel became a full-scale laboratory for the Memorial Tunnel Fire Ventilation Test Program—a six-year, ~$38 million series of experiments that fundamentally changed how the world designs and ventilates highway tunnels. Engineers set controlled fires, measured smoke behavior, and validated the performance of longitudinal jet fans, which later gained U.S. approval and shaped modern tunnel standards. Federal Highway Administration+4AIVC+4TRB Online Publications+4

If you’ve ever driven through a long modern tunnel with those ceiling-mounted fans keeping the air clear, you’ve felt the legacy of a mountain on the West Virginia Turnpike.

From Defense Training to Local Innovation

Around 2000, the site transformed again—this time into the Center for National Response, a federal training campus hidden inside the old Turnpike tunnel. It hosted simulated subway platforms (with actual Boston Green Line cars), a rubble field for collapse rescues, a highway pile-up, and more. Over the years, approximately 160,000 first responders trained inside West Virginia’s mountainside. Wikipedia+1

Operations wound down in 2020. In February 2022, the West Virginia National Guard announced a new chapter: the tunnel would be repurposed for mushroom cultivation, operated by a local company—Hernshaw Farms—just off the West Virginia Turnpike. Wikipedia

Why a Highway Tunnel Is Perfect for Mushrooms

What makes an old West Virginia Turnpike tunnel great for growing mushrooms?

• Stable temperatures & humidity: Underground rock buffers seasonal swings, delivering consistency that gourmet fungi love.

• Darkness by design: Mushrooms, which are photrophic,  don’t need bright light; they need clean air, moisture, and the right temps.

• Controlled air movement: The same airflow logic explored during the fire program helps maintain quality fruiting conditions.

• Built-in scale: A long, safe, enclosed corridor provides room for racks, sanitation, and efficient harvesting.

Hernshaw Farms’ “mushroom tunnel” has quickly become a West Virginia curiosity—one of only a small handful of highway tunnels in the world repurposed for commercial mushroom production (and among the very few in the United States). Local news and statewide features have showcased how the old West Virginia Turnpike passage now supports agriculture, local restaurants, and online customers nationwide. Hernshaw Farms+1

A Circular Story: Infrastructure, Safety Science, and Rural Entrepreneurship

The Memorial Tunnel tells a uniquely American story:

1. Build the road – The West Virginia Turnpike connected communities and commerce through formidable terrain. Wikipedia

2. Advance safety – The abandoned Turnpike tunnel hosted world-class fire and ventilation research that still informs tunnel design. TRB Online Publications+2Federal Highway Administration+2

3. Train first responders – A national training center improved readiness for crises. National Defense Magazine

4. Regenerate the space – Today, local growers have turned the same corridor into one of the world’s rare mushroom tunnels, aligning rural jobs, food systems, and climate-smart reuse—right off the West Virginia Turnpike. Wikipedia+1

It’s hard to think of another place where the phrase “West Virginia Turnpike” ties together mid-century engineering, international safety standards, homeland security training, and twenty-first-century indoor agriculture.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Memorial Tunnel

Where exactly is the Memorial Tunnel?
It runs under Paint Creek Mountain near Standard (Kanawha County), West Virginia, along the historic alignment of the West Virginia Turnpike. Length: 2,802 ft. Opened 1954, bypassed 1987. Wikipedia

What was the fire ventilation program?
A six-year, ~$38M, full-scale series of highway tunnel fire tests that validated jet fans and informed ventilation standards still referenced by FHWA today. Federal Highway Administration+3AIVC+3TRB Online Publications+3

Who trained there?
The Center for National Response hosted law enforcement, firefighters, and specialized units—using simulated subway stations, wrecks, and industrial scenarios—before closing in 2020. National Defense Magazine

Is it true mushrooms are grown there now?
Yes. In 2022, the state announced a partnership enabling Hernshaw Farms to cultivate mushrooms in the tunnel—a rare example of agricultural reuse of a decommissioned highway tunnel tied to the West Virginia Turnpike. Wikipedia

Why This Matters for West Virginia (and Beyond)

• Adaptive Reuse Leadership – The West Virginia Turnpike corridor demonstrates how legacy infrastructure can be converted into modern assets with global relevance (food production, research, training). Federal Highway Administration

• Resilient Food Production – Controlled-environment agriculture increases supply reliability, reduces land disturbance, and adds value to rural economies—especially in places with mining legacies and complex terrain.

• Tourism & Storytelling – Visitors are drawn to unusual sites. A “mushroom tunnel on the West Virginia Turnpike” is a one-of-a-kind phrase that sparks curiosity and pride.

Plan Your Turnpike Mushroom Pilgrimage

Traveling the West Virginia Turnpike? Put the Memorial Tunnel’s story on your list. Explore our guides to Grow Kits, dive into Instructions for species like Blue, Pink, and King Oyster, and taste the results with Edibles & Pantry. For press and features about our work in the Memorial Tunnel, see In the News. Hernshaw Farms

Sources & Further Reading

• Memorial Tunnel overview and dates (length, open/close, CCTV firsts, 88-mile context). Wikipedia

• Fire Ventilation Test Program (overview, $38M cost, six-year study). AIVC+2TRB Online Publications+2

• FHWA technical references using Memorial Tunnel data in modern tunnel fire/ventilation modeling and guidance. Federal Highway Administration+2Federal Highway Administration+2

• Center for National Response—homeland security and first-responder training history in the former Turnpike tunnel. National Defense Magazine

• Hernshaw Farms & media features about the mushroom tunnel along the West Virginia Turnpike. Hernshaw Farms+1