FULTON COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — A Cumberland County man has been charged with trying to take a ride through history.
Pennsylvania State Police said Sunday that Ivan Fowler, 27, was charged Thursday with simple trespassing after someone told state police he posted pictures of himself cutting open a lock to an access gate for the abandoned section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other photos showed him driving on the 13-mile stretch of road, which is now private property.
The abandoned toll road section encompasses an area between the Breezewood exit and the Sideling Hill Service Plaza, and was a part of the original turnpike route that used two-lane tunnels that were originally built as part of the South Pennsylvania Railroad to cut through the Appalachians. While other tunnels on the toll road were double-tubed to allow for a less bottlenecked traffic flow, the stretch in Bedford County and Fulton County was replaced in 1968 with a modern stretch of highway to bypass the Sideling Hill Tunnel and Rays Hill Tunnel.
Most of the old abandoned toll road and tunnels are owned by the Bedford-Fulton Joint Recreation Authority and used as a biking trail, while a stretch closer to the Sideling Hill Service Plaza is still owned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
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