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Photos: What the Liberty Tunnel Closures Look Like From the Inside

90.5 WESA

Published August 27, 2013 at 7:16 AM EDT

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A worker looks north down the inbound Liberty Tunnel as crews work on the ventilation arch wall.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Construction project manager Danny Rosensteel (left) and Heath Butler, an assistant construction engineer for PennDOT, inspect the walls of the inbound tunnel on Aug. 22.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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A worker steers a scissor lift under the ventilation arch wall.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Large, bright lights illuminate a section of the tunnel.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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A worker blasts an inbound tunnel wall with water.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Workers install reinforcement to finish the the ventilation arch wall, or "nozzle wall," a concrete arch that provides for air flow as part of the tunnel's ventilation system.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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A worker crawls on reinforcements.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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About 100 workers have been involved in the construction project during the closure period.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Workers have operated on 12-hour shifts during the round-the-clock closures.

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A scissor lift is covered in shotcrete, which is concrete that is shot onto walls via a hose.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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The glow of the outbound tunnel can be seen through cracked glass in a door in one of 11 cross passages. The passages are also being renovated, with new stainless steel doors and flooring being installed, as well as fresh paint being applied.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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The north end of the inbound tunnel, as seen from inside. Drivers making their way from the South Hills toward downtown Pittsburgh have had to take a detour around the tunnel.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Tie bolts are stacked outside the inbound tunnel. The bolts hold in place steel forms, which act as casts while wet concrete dries.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Danny Rosensteel is the tunnel contruction project manager.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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Carpenters Tyler Fleming (left) and Kevin Jones pause for a lunch break on the north end of the inbound Liberty Tunnel.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

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The Liberty Tunnel is 5,888 feet long, according to PennDOT. From just a few yards in, the tunnel appears empty, but crews are actually busy at work deep inside the passage.

Ryan Loew / 90.5 WESA

For drivers heading in and out of the South Hills in recent weeks, the daily commute has been trying at times.

Construction on the 5,888-foot-long Liberty Tunnel has prompted 24-hour closures of first the outbound side, then the inbound.

That's meant detours.

And while commuters making their way around the tunnel closures have likely seen workers on the north and south ends of the tunnel restoring concrete facades, much of the work inside the tubes has gone unseen.

Working two 12-hour shifts a day, crews inside the tunnel have been resurfacing walls, making electrical upgrades and reconstructing the ventilation arch wall, which circulates air into the tunnel. Roughly 100 workers are involved in the day-to-day construction efforts during the closure period.

The inbound tunnel is scheduled to re-open at 6 a.m. Aug. 30, however nightly tunnel closures are expected to resume.