page_title: Mill Creek (Lake Erie)
section_title: Mill Creek Tube
hierarchical_section_title: Mill Creek (Lake Erie) / Mill Creek Tube
caption_attribution_description: English: The entrance to the Tube on the Mill Creek, located at 30th Street, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Originally three horizontal photos. This panoramic image was created with Autostitch. Stitched images may differ from reality.
context_page_description: Mill Creek is a 19-mile long tributary of Lake Erie in Erie County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It flows from Millcreek Township through the city of Erie, into Presque Isle Bay.
  Much of the creek in the city was channeled into the Mill Creek Tube, which was constructed after Mill Creek's disastrous flood struck the city in 1915.
context_section_description: The Mill Creek Tube is a 22-foot (6.7 m) wide, 19-foot (5.8 m) tall, and 12,280-foot (3,740 m) long,  reinforced concrete tube that carries Mill Creek under the city of Erie. Built to prevent another catastrophic flood similar to the one in 1915, the tube was completed in 1923. It begins on the southern side of West 30th Street and terminates on the northern side of the Bayfront Parkway. The tube contains over 70,000 barrels, or 13,600 short tons (12,300 t), of cement and drops 200 feet (61 m) overs its total length.
  As the tube is "large enough for a Jeep or [a] pickup to ride through—and turn around in", it is occasionally the site of water rescues when people have been swept into it when the creek is high and have become stranded. One such rescue occurred on July 26, 2007, after three teenagers were caught up in the swiftly moving Mill Creek. One was rescued by firefighters near the mouth of the tube, another near 26th Street, and one traversed the entire tube before being rescued.
  Situated about a 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream of the tube is a drift catcher used to stop large debris from reaching the tube. The catcher is 209 feet (64 m) long and 18 feet (5.5 m) high. It was built at the same time as the tube. The catcher was modified in 1965 to accommodate the Erie Zoo's miniature railroad. It underwent a $476,800 restoration from May to August 2010 to seal cracks, repair deteriorating concrete and inspect one of the bridge's retaining walls.
caption: The entrance to the tube at 30th Street
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