1971 I-94 Lowry Hill Tunnel in Minneapolis, MN

North Portal: (Satellite)

South Portal: (Satellite)

Historic Minneapolis posted
I-94 Lowry Hill Tunnel under construction. (1969)
[Lots of comments about the bad traffic because they can't add more lanes.]

mspmag
The tunnel is 1,491' (454m) long. "It’s the longest—and oldest—in the state."
The daily usage is 142,000, which is higher than Lincoln Tunnel's 137,000. The usage was 175,000 before COVID.

According to some comments on the above post, either the Episcopal Church or the Methodist Church now has foundation problems. I couldn't determine which church they were talking about in terms of the foundation.

Satellite

Another comment on the post pointed out that they hid the highway for the protestant churches but allowed the Basilica of Sant Mary to see not only a highway, but an interchange.

Satellite

DOT explains that the purpose of the tunnel was indeed to hide the highway.

mndot
"The Lowry Hill Tunnel, constructed in 1969, carries Interstate 94 under local streets in the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County. The tunnel, of rigid frame design, was constructed in response to concerns regarding impacts to historic and cultural properties in the area. It was designed to allow Interstate 94 to pass beneath the properties and local streets. It is significant as an example of the local impact of and response to highway development and the avoidance of impacts to historic and cultural resources. It is also significant as an example of a concrete tunnel of rigid frame design, which was an uncommon bridge type in the state at the time of construction."

 

mndot via mndigital, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 
"Black-and-white photograph of the interior of the Lowry Hill tunnel during construction. This photograph shows the construction of one of the walls of the tunnel, Minneapolis, Minnesota."

A blog post about the tunnel