BREEZEWOOD, Pa. -- Water drips from the peeling concrete roofs. Pieces of that concrete, from small chips to Frisbee-size chunks, litter the tunnel floors. Patches of graffiti mark the walls, the most obscene of it covered by layer after layer of white paint.

	V.W.H. Campbell, Post-Gazette Ryan Nemanic, assistant project manager, Southern Alleghenies Conservancy, arrives at the eastern entrance to one of the two tunnels that were part of the original Pennsylvania Turnpike between Breezewood and Sideling Hill. Click photo for larger image.

In one tunnel, Sideling Hill, it is so dark in the middle of its 6,791 feet that you can't see your hand in front of your face. In the other, Rays Hill, a beam of light shows through the 3,512 feet, guiding riders and walkers to the outside.

The tunnels and the old road that runs through them were once fixtures on the first superhighway in the United States. Now they're headed for a second life as what planners hope will become some of the most-traveled bike trails in the nation.

When the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission opened the roadway in 1940, it had no idea how popular the thruway would become. By 1968, traffic jammed as it wound from two lanes in each direction to one through the tunnels, which are four miles apart. The turnpike commission relocated its highway to bypass Sideling and Rays and abandoned an 11-mile stretch of road that contained them.

In 2001, the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy bought 8.5 miles of the old blacktop to create the Pike 2 Bike trail.

A master plan for the trail will be unveiled Wednesday, calling for improvements ranging from lighting the tunnel, to repaving one lane of travel, to creating trailheads, signage and bathrooms, all at an estimated cost of $2.66 million. No completion date has been set.

The trail, which is near Route 30 and Interstate 70 in Breezewood and spills into Buchanan State Forest, isn't officially open, but that hasn't kept scores of cyclists from accessing it regularly.

Bob McKinley, the director of project development for Fulton County, which is home to most of the trail, believes its link to a historic superhighway will be key to attracting riders.

"I know we're going to have a half million people in the second year," McKinley said. "This is the ultimate. The uniqueness of this is the turnpike."

The trail will provide recreation, economic development and tourism to the community, said McKinley, 58. Though trails have become popular in Western Pennsylvania, there are not many in Central Pennsylvania.

"Location, location, location. That's what we have here," he said. "It's going to be a destination."

Some 8,876 vehicles pass between the current turnpike and Interstate 70 at Breezewood each day.

McKinley can't think of a better break from driving than taking an hour to hit the trail.

For the past two years, the trail has been used by the 99th Regional Readiness Command in Moon to do convoy training for soldiers departing for the Middle East. At a few spots along the trail, barricades are set up, some spray-painted with the word, "Baghdad."

Last summer, soldiers training there spent about $250,000 in Breezewood.

After the roadway was closed, it was used as the Safety Testing and Research Center, where Rumble Strips and recessed road reflectors were developed. It's also been used for hunting and as a state police shooting range.

The trail also will draw wildlife enthusiasts, McKinley said. Some of the animals sighted there include deer, black bears and turkeys.

In some sections, the asphalt is in great condition, smooth and solid. In others, it is breaking apart as wildflowers and grass grow through it.

The plan is to repave one lane, which could be used by in-line skaters and skateboarders, at a cost of about $342,000. Horseback riders will be allowed to use the trail, though there is some debate whether they will be permitted inside the tunnels, said Ryan Nemanic, assistant project manager on the trail and an Americorps member.

The tunnels may be the trail's biggest draw of all.

They are dark now, and there has been debate about what type of lighting to use. The plan is to keep the illumination subdued, like a moonlit night, Nemanic said.

Ideally, he said, LED lighting will be used, and it will be powered by an alternative source, such as solar or wind energy.

Lighting the tunnels will cost about $360,000 to start. But energy bills after that, Nemanic said, would only be about $100 a year.

The most expensive part of the project will be stabilizing the tunnels. A consultant suggested two ways to do it: Sandblast every square inch of concrete inside them and seal the walls, or build a mesh containment system that would catch the concrete as it fell. Stabilization of both tunnels will cost about $1.3 million.

Ultimately, developers hope to connect the Pike 2 Bike trail with the current Sideling Hill Service Plaza in Fulton County and to Breezewood in Bedford County.

McKinley hopes to tie the Pike 2 Bike trail in with others in the area, including those at Buchanan State Forest.

The Pike 2 Bike project will be done as quickly as possible, though McKinley said he couldn't give a solid time frame.

"It's really an easy project," he said. "If the funds are there, I could do it in a year, but that's not going to happen."