Birmingham Water Works Tunnel - Birmingham, Alabama
N 33° 29.610 W 086° 47.738
16S E 518984 N 3706017
The Birmingham Water Works Tunnel is a 2,126-foot-long by 12-foot diameter inclined tunnel bored through Red Mountain near Lone Pine Gap in 1888. The tunnel served to bring water from the Cahaba River into downtown Birmingham.
Waymark Code: WM4M48
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2008
Views: 62
This tunnel was a project of the Birmingham Water Works Company, and contains two massive water mains. The water is drawn from the Cahaba at the Cahaba Pumping Station on Pump House Road, which forces it over the ridge of Shades Mountain to the Shades Mountain Water Treatment Plant on U. S. Highway 280. From there it is drawn into Homewood by the Rosedale Pump House (constructed in 1910) and then falls by gravity through the long tunnel into Birmingham.
As it approaches Lone Pine Gap, the tunnel lies roughly parallel to 18th Street. It continues beneath Vulcan Park and 16th Street South to a stone headwall in a neighborhood park just below the street. A metal gate provides access to large cast-iron gate valves at that location. The interior of the tunnel is supported periodically by brick arches.
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