page_title: Moffat Tunnel
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Moffat Tunnel / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the interior of the newly completed Moffat Tunnel. A search for original copyright registrations was done in artwork for the year 1927. International Newsreel registered one photo for 1927-a photo of Charles Lindbergh. There's no evidence of original copyright on this photo.
context_page_description: The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 1928.
  The Moffat Tunnel finally provided Denver with a western link through the Continental Divide, as both Cheyenne, Wyoming, to the north and Pueblo to the south already enjoyed rail access to the West Coast. It follows the right-of-way laid out by Moffat in 1902 while he was seeking a better and shorter route from Denver to Salt Lake City. The Moffat Tunnel averages 15 trains per day. The railroad and water tunnels parallel one another; the water tunnel delivers a portion of Denver's water supply.
context_section_description: The Moffat Tunnel was cut under a shoulder of James Peak. A small pilot tunnel was bored parallel with and 75 feet (23 m) south of the main tunnel to facilitate the work and was eight feet (2.4 m) high and eight feet (2.4 m) wide. In 1925 bad rock at the west end of the tunnel delayed construction and costs soared. The pilot tunnel was officially "holed through" on February 18, 1927, the blast of dynamite set off by President Calvin Coolidge pressing a key in Washington, D.C., and the program was broadcast by radio from the heart of the mountain. The pilot bore later became the water tunnel. Three more bond issues were sold before the tunnel was completed.
  The railroad tunnel was holed through on July 7, 1927, and formally turned over to the lessee on February 26, 1928. Upon completion of the Dotsero Cutoff five years later, railroad connections through the tunnel shortened the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles (283 km). The tunnel took 48 months to bore; the average daily progress was 21 feet (6.4 m). The first train passed through the tunnel in February 1928.
  Although the original cost of the tunnel was pegged at $6.62 million, final assessments collected by the Moffat Tunnel district, including interest, were $23,972,843. The cost of the two tunnels was $15.6 million, which is $475 per linear foot ($1,558 per linear meter). Each of the ornamental bronze characters on the east and west portals (entrances) of the tunnel cost $40 and a separate cast had to be made for each character. Further, on each portal are the dates: 1923 (when construction began) and 1927 (the year the tunnel was scheduled to be completed). By not changing 1927 to 1928 (the year the tunnel was actually finished and opened), this saved the commission $80 ($40 each portal) at the time. The project excavated 750,000 cubic yards (570,000 m³), or 3,000,000,000 pounds (1,400,000 t) of rock, equal to 1,600 freight trains of 40 cars each. During the five-year project, 28 people died, six in a single cave-in on July 30, 1926.
  Track rails in the tunnel, originally jointed, were replaced in the 1930s with continuous welded rail, one of the earliest such installations in North America. This decision was prompted by the corrosive effect of coal smoke and steam condensate, captive within the tunnel, on the joints.
caption: The nearly-completed tunnel in December 1927
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