ONLY Road Under the Erie Canal - Medina, NY.
Posted by: model12
N 43° 14.117 W 078° 20.424
17T E 715955 N 4790377
Culvert Road near Medina in Orleans County is the only place where a road goes UNDER the Erie Canal.
Waymark Code: WMBMQY
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 06/03/2011
Views: 19
This road is the only road known to go under the Erie Canal. It has a plaque noting that it was in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Some water still drips through, but the single lane road is easily passable. Just don't forget the bikes on top of your car!! There is a sidewalk through the tunnel so that pedestrians can pass through safely.
Sign on the tunnel reads;
The Culvert Road
The only road under the Erie Canal
in Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Culvert built 1823.
Signs up above on the towpath read;
Directly under your feet is the Medina Culvert, built in 1823. It's located about 1 3/4 miles east of Medina and can be reached by the towpath or via Culvert Road. A culvert was chosen as more economical than a bridge because the canal crosses a valley here on a berm, and the surrounding land is some 20 feet lower than the canal.
It's the only place on the NY canal system where a road crosses UNDER the canal.
It's a one lane road with 7 1/2 feet clearance at the edges of the sidewalk, though it's about 9 feet at the center. The Erie Canal passes overhead.
The Medina Culvert is more than 185 years old, and it leaks. A lot!
there's constant water dripping at the middle section directly under the canal.
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