The Selby Tunnel then and Now
1951 and 2012
The Selby Tunnel began at the corner of Nina Street and ended at College Avenue near what is now the Pleasant Avenue Corridor. The poured-concrete tunnel was more than twenty feet in height, and carried two parallel sets of streetcar tracks. At one time there was a sidewalk on the west side of the tunnel, and a boardwalk on the east. The tunnel is probably the best-known and most celebrated ruin of the old Twin City Rapid Transit kingdom. The last street car went through in 1953 and in 1959 the the upper entrance on Selby was dismantled, sealed and paved over. The lower entrance was still accessible to hobos and adventurers well into the 1980′s. The ornamental iron picket fence was put up in 1907. There are still two sets of tracks and various pieces of hardware dangling from poles near the entrance. A couple years ago a historical marker was proposed, but the city never got around to putting one up.
