| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Baytown – La Porte Tunnel |
| Location | Baytown |
| Status | Demolished |
| Start | Baytown |
| End | La Porte |
| Operation | |
| Opened | September 1953 |
| Closed | 1995 |
| Technical | |
| Design engineer | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Length | 4,110 feet |
| No. of lanes | 2 |
| Lowest elevation | 40 feet |
| Width | 530 feet |
The Baytown Tunnel or Baytown – La Porte Tunnel was a two-lane underwater motor-vehicle tunnel connecting Baytown and La Porte, two suburbs of Houston, Texas. Completed in 1953,[1] it traveled northeast-southwest underneath the Houston Ship Channel and had a length of 4,110 feet (1,250 m).[2] It was closed to vehicular traffic in 1995 with the opening of the Fred Hartman Bridge, and subsequently demolished beginning in 1997 in order for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the channel in 1998.[3]
The Fred Hartman Bridge had been designed to replace the Baytown Tunnel (of depth clearance 40 feet (12.2 m)),[4] which had to be removed when the Houston Ship Channel was deepened to 45 feet (13.7 m), with a minimum 530 feet (161.5 m) bottom width, to accommodate larger ships. The last section of the Baytown Tunnel was removed on September 14, 1999, with removal of the tunnel being the responsibility of the Texas Department of Transportation.[4]