The Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike is the common name of a stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike that was replaced in 1968 by a new stretch. This was done to eliminate traffic congestion caused by the two-lane Sideling Hill Tunnel and Rays Hill Tunnel. Due to this the Cove Valley travel plaza was demolished. The 1968 alignment is east of the heavily congested Breezewood interchange for Interstate 70 (I-70) eastbound at what is now I-76 exit 161. This was replaced two years after that alignment opened. The section of the turnpike was at one time part of the South Pennsylvania Railroad. The property is now officially named The Old PA Pike Trail.
When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940, it was known as the "Tunnel Highway" because it traversed seven tunnels: from east to west, Blue Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, Allegheny Mountain, and Laurel Hill. There was one tunnel through each mountain, and the highway was reduced to a single lane in each direction through each tunnel. These tunnels were originally built as part of the South Pennsylvania Railroad. The Quemahoning, Negro Mountain, and original Allegheny Mountain tunnels were bypassed during the original construction of the turnpike.
By the late 1950s, the turnpike was so heavily used that traffic congestion demanded expansion because bottlenecks at the two-lane tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike became a major problem. Traffic jams formed at each tunnel, especially during the summer. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) conducted studies on either expanding or bypassing the tunnels. Following the studies, the PTC decided to construct new tubes at four of the tunnels and bypass the remaining three. The Sideling Hill and Rays Hill tunnels were bypassed by a new highway, as was the westbound-only Cove Valley Travel Plaza, which was located at the eastern portal of the Sideling Hill Tunnel. Instead, a new Sideling Hill Travel Plaza was built to cater for travelers in both directions on the turnpike. The turnpike bypass of Rays Hill and Sideling Hill tunnels opened to traffic on November 26, 1968.
In the early 1970s, the emission levels of unleaded gasoline were tested in Rays Hill Tunnel. A Plymouth Satellite was used as the test vehicle. The PTC and PennDOT used the highway to train maintenance workers, as well as for testing of rumble strips. The site of the former Cove Valley Travel Plaza was used as a shooting range for the Pennsylvania State Police. There have also been numerous military uses for the highway; the tunnels were considered as a storage area for weapons, as was the open highway for aircraft. The military also used the highway for training soldiers for Iraq in the early 2000s, even after the highway was sold to the SAC. The PTC sold most of the property to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy (SAC) for $1 in 2001. The property was then managed by Friends of the Pike 2 Bike, a coalition of non-profit groups (including the SAC) that eventually converted the stretch into a bike trail.
A business plan and feasibility study was completed by Gannett Fleming in 2005. It proposed various ideas to make the trail as accessible as possible for cyclists, hikers, inline skaters, and equestrians.
In 2008 the highway was used for the filming of the Dimension Films movie The Road starring Viggo Mortensen. The studios mildly restored the exterior of the eastern portal of the Ray's Hill Tunnel when it was used for filming.
In October 2018, Bedford and Fulton Counties approved Articles of Incorporation of The Bedford Fulton Joint Recreation Authority (BFJRA), a Pennsylvania Municipal Authority made up of members from Bedford County and Fulton County. The Authority subsequently purchased the property from SAC, and it was renamed The Old PA Pike (TOPP) Trail.
In 2023, the BFJRA was awarded a $358,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant. In 2024, The BFJRA was awarded a Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program grant. In 2025, The BFJRA was awarded a $138,900 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to develop a master plan for rehabilitating two historic tunnels along The Old PA Pike Trail in Bedford and Fulton counties.
Today, the TOPP Trail is a popular tourist attraction. The tunnel's entrances have deteriorated due to vandalism, and their signboards were taken sometime between 1981 and 1999. However, tunnel structure is still sound despite not having been maintained for decades.
In 2005, the PTC restricted access to the abandoned turnpike by demolishing an overpass over U.S. Route 30 (US 30) in Breezewood and an overpass on Pump Station Road near the site of the old Cove Valley Travel Plaza. The demolition of the overpasses removed the liability and expense of repairing the aging bridges, marked the property lines between the public and the PTC-owned sections of the property, and prevented motorized vehicles from easily entering the abandoned turnpike.
The original plans for the removal included an access road, but somewhere along the way, it was removed and not known to Pike 2 Bike officials until it was too late. , the Friends of the Pike 2 Bike were seeking to obtain grants that will allow the building of an access road and to rebuild the last remaining original toll booth, which was obtained in 2006. The toll booth will collect a parking donation that will be used to pay for site maintenance and upkeep. An access road was built in the late 2000s on the PTC-owned side of the former Pump Station Road overpass, making the section still owned by the PTC a de facto access road to the active turnpike in itself; however, like other access roads along the turnpike, it is off-limits to the public and is only used by the PTC or Pennsylvania State Police.
There are three access points to the public section of the abandoned highway:
The Abandoned Turnpike is perhaps the best-known of tunnel bypasses on toll roads. Among the other bypassed tunnels: