The tunnel that runs under Highway 50 has been called many things over the years. Some have called it a shortcut, others have called it a cesspool. In a few days, it will be history.
The tunnel will be closed and permanently sealed next week, according to David McKenna, executive director of facilities management/support services at A&M-Commerce.
The closing had been presumed to begin over a year ago, after the University had determined repairing the aging and little-used structure was not worth the over-$150,000 price tag. However, according to McKenna, plans and money did not meet as they intended so the plan needed to be revised.
Built in the 1960s, the tunnel was to serve as a primary walkway for students, as the University perceived a majority of student
housing would develop to the west of the highway. In addition, its location was chosen to serve a culinary purpose.
“Watson cafeteria [current site of the Children’s Museum] was the cafeteria, and so students, to go over there to eat breakfast or lunch, could go underneath the highway straight there,” Lt. Jason Bone of the University Police Department said.
This would also help explain the tunnel’s peculiar location.
“You think, ‘well that’s in an awkward place anyway, why not put it further down,'” Bone said. “But they put it right there by the cafeteria because that’s where everybody went to eat breakfast.”
After the cafeteria closed, the tunnel fell into disuse and disrepair, to the point that it was assumed to be unnecessary.
“I was just asking someone the other day if it was still being used,” Dennis Koch, interim director of residential living and learning said. “They told me that they didn’t know of anyone who really still used it.”
There are still a few students who do utilize the tunnel. However, the majority of students walking to campus from Smith or Berry residence halls opt to use the crosswalks lining the highway instead.
Lt. Bone thinks that is probably the wisest course of travel.
“I don’t recommend people go into [the tunnel], personally. I would rather see them walking [in the crosswalks]. Walk safely, be careful, but I would rather see people above ground,” Bone said.
Soon, that will be the only option left. Now that the budgetary concerns that delayed the tunnel closing have been resolved, McKenna expects the project to move forward quickly.
“It will be completed within a week, weather permitting, once we start,” McKenna said.
Then, just like that, a small piece of A&M Commerce history will be gone, buried by time and concrete.