page_title: Mitchell Point Tunnel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mitchell Point Tunnel / History
caption_attribution_description: Mitchell Point Tunnel on the Columbia River Highway
context_page_description: The Mitchell Point Tunnel was a tunnel located towards the eastern end of the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon, United States. It existed from 1915 to 1966.
context_section_description: The tunnel was designed by John Arthur Elliott, who was inspired by a tunnel similarly set into a cliff face above Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. It was built in 1915 and opened late in the year, the first major roadway tunnel in the United States. The tunnel measured 390 feet (120 m) long, 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, and 10 feet (3.0 m) tall.
  In 1932, the Tooth Rock Tunnel was opened, and some traffic was rerouted to the new alignment, though Mitchell Point Tunnel remained open to vehicle traffic until the early 1950s, when the road was rerouted to the base of Mitchell Point. The tunnel was subsequently blocked off with debris, and remained closed until 1966 when it was destroyed as part of Interstate 84 construction.
  As part of the rebuilding of the Columbia River Highway into a network of trails, the Oregon Department of Transportation has considered the possibility of boring a new tunnel on Mitchell Point.
caption: Looking up from the river
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