FIRST - International Tunnel - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

The St. Clair River Tunnel was the first full-size submarine tunnel built in North America. Prior to its completion, a railroad had never been able to pass beneath a river. This accomplishment was not possible until engineers learned to combine three elements of tunnel construction: the shield method of excavating, the cast iron tunnel lining, and excavating in a compressed air environment. The St. Clair River Tunnel is important in the history of engineering because it was the world's first true test of the feasibility of constructing railroad (and later vehicular) tunnels through the soft, porous ground commonly found beneath rivers

The tunnel's total length is 11,725 feet, with 2,290 feet underwater. The tunnel operations were electrified in 1908 and completely dieselized in 1958. Tracks were lowered in 1949 to accommodate larger freight cars.. The bore diameter of 19’ 10” could not handle larger freight cars and a new tunnel, 27’ 6” in diameter was opened in 1994

Originally operated independently by the St Clair Tunnel Company, an amalgamation of the US and Canadian companies that built it (and met in the middle), the St. Clair Tunnel Company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railways (CNR).

The pictures below show a plaque close to the US portal and the old and new tunnel portals from a vantage point on the Canadian side of the border

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