The Callahan Tunnel, officially the Lieutenant William F. Callahan Tunnel is one of four tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s beneath Boston Harbor

Port of Boston

The Port of Boston, , is a major seaport located in Boston Harbor and adjacent to the City of Boston...

 in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries motor vehicles from the North End to Logan International Airport

Logan International Airport

General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...

 and Route 1A in East Boston. Ordinarily, this tunnel is only used to carry traffic out of the city, and with the completion of the Big Dig it only collects traffic from I-93

Interstate 93

Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...

 southbound (right after traffic merges from Storrow Drive) and downtown Boston. There is no toll in this direction. Traffic from the airport and Route 1A towards downtown Boston and I-93 northbound normally flows in the older, parallel Sumner Tunnel

Sumner Tunnel

The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End but with the completion of the Big Dig,...

, where a $3.50 toll is collected (raised from $3 on January 1, 2008).

Alternatives

Traffic flowing between Logan International Airport and directions south of the city on I-93 and west of the city on the Mass Pike (I-90) normally uses the Ted Williams Tunnel rather than the Callahan and Sumner Tunnels.

History

The tunnel was opened in 1961. It was named for the son of Turnpike chairman William F. Callahan

William F. Callahan

William Francis Callahan was a Massachusetts civil servant who served as Commissioner of Public Works from 1934-1952 and Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority from 1952 until his death in 1964. Callahan developed the Master Highway Plan for Metropolitan Boston, which included the...

, who was killed in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 just days before the end of World War II. Operatic Tenor, William Flavin, of Milton Mass. sang the Star Spangled Banner and Oh Danny Boy at the opening of the Callahan Tunnel in 1961.
Historically, control signals were used to reverse direction of one lane in this tunnel or the Sumner Tunnel, when the opposite tunnel was closed for maintenance or emergencies. Under the relevant Turnpike regulations, a yellow signal light means "proceed only as directed", on penalty of a $50 fine. As the signals are almost always yellow, this rule is universally ignored by drivers. Other markings in the tunnel include a "double white line" in the center, intended to discourage drivers from changing lanes, to be penalized with a $100 fine.

See also

• Sumner Tunnel
  Sumner Tunnel
  The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End but with the completion of the Big Dig,...
  
  
• Ted Williams Tunnel
  Ted Williams Tunnel
  The Ted Williams Tunnel, also known as the Williams Tunnel, is the name of the third highway tunnel under Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts, the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels being the other two...
  
  
• Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel
  Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel
  The Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel is a highway tunnel built as part of the Big Dig in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries the Central Artery underneath downtown Boston, and is numbered as Interstate 93, U.S. Route 1, and Route 3. It roughly follows the route of the old elevated Central Artery,...
  
  
• Massachusetts Turnpike
  Massachusetts Turnpike
  The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
  
  
• Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge
  Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge
  The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s, and is the world's widest cable-stayed bridge...
  
  
• MBTA's
  Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
  The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...
  
    East Boston Tunnel
  Blue Line (MBTA)
  The Blue Line is one of four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority serving Downtown, East Boston and the North Shore. It runs from northeast to southwest, extending from Wonderland station in Revere, Massachusetts to Bowdoin station near Beacon Hill in Boston...