The Secret Room Inside the Fort Pitt Tunnel

Did you know that there are meeting rooms and offices inside the Fort Pitt Tunnel? On this week's Yinzer Backstage Pass, we get a tour of the facility from Paul Manyisha, the tunnel manager.

[@harrybarry2291]

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Thank you for this excellent posting. Paul, you gave a first class tour, thanks.

[@katelynschrader3200]

Thank you for answering this question I decidedly assumed would never be answered. Long may Paul manage 🎉

[@flyjarrett]

My uncle loves to tell a story of when he was driving downtown in the 70s when his transmission failed, leaving him with only reverse. He drove backwards from downtown through the Liberty Tunnels to Carrick.

[@JL-by6ce]

That would have been a dope field trip when I was a little boy amazed by the Squirrel Hill, Liberty, and Fort Pitt tunnels. (In order of the frequency we used them). Never been through the 4th that I remembered. I was raised in the 80s tunnels.

[@patrickmc.2011]

Really cool tour! I have lived here for 50 years and never saw this stuff!!

[@Crittbeast]

Yinz should show us backstage at the trolley spur that services penn station

[@stringalongmike1953]

Thanks Paul, excellent tour.

[@FrancoM7747]

When I was a kid that tunnel manager's office was the control room.

[@caschner]

Does anyone know what the fourth tunnel Paul lists was (0:30)? He lists Fort Pitt, Squirrel Hill, Liberty, and the ??? tunnel. Closed captions has "snow tunnel".

[@stevendoerfler]

I think he's saying the Stowe Tunnel. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_Tunnel

[@caledric]

3:40 he tries to gaslight us into believing there is no tunnel monster.

[@bige.3474]

His real job is to feed the tunnel monster.

[@9094nancyj]

Very interesting!

[@ChosenUndead87]

This was so cool!

[@arlenebaker2220]

Love this!

[@heavi-armed-infadel]

But wouldn't increased air flow in an attempt to displace smoke also act like a bellows feeding oxygen to whatever source fire?

[@stevendoerfler]

Sure. But it's probably a good tradeoff if the fire gets larger but the people fleeing from it can still breathe. They can turn down the fans once everyone left in the tunnel is a firefighter wearing breathing gear.

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

Boas, you have the best job in Pittsburgh!

[@dracomaster4]

OMG that mezzanine! I went to google maps street view and looked backwards, sure enough it's there. It's like a hidden area easter egg for a video game!

[@patrickmc.2011]

I want to look backwards next time driving through.

[@adventureswithfarmertroy]

Cool video … Thanks Boaz!!! 😎👍 🧲🛻🚓🚒🚎🚌🚐🚙🚕🚗

[@stephan2849]

I’m gonna wave to this guy when I go through the tunnel

[@InfoprosNetwork]

jiminy glick interviews tunnel manager. wow.

[@marshalljimduncan]

What's your typical workday like? Well, I show up and check in with everyone and make sure everything's going smoothly...Wow, that guy has the easiest job on earth!

[@steelwheels327]

Nothings as simple as it appears and especially if you dealing with the public in their cars road raging if they can't move ......if something fails like the I.T. computer that controls all that electrical in the switch gear room everything stops including traffic. .I work in a field very similar to this and as I.T. technology replaced older mechanical controls systems it improved in some aspects, however the complexities involved make it harder to get things running if one of those I.T. systems fail

[@jeffkaylin892]

Fun. There was a point in the video where a panel was being examined vertically, and the panning was jerky -- like most of the horizontal panning. KDKA also has that problem. Perhaps it is the hand-held units which use the jitter reduction. So, any inventor out there who can add a button to temporarily turn off jitter reduction during panning could make a fortune. And if that could be a 4-direction button that could actually track the pan and reduce jitter in that one direction.... For location information, saying "We are 0.5 miles south of the point" would give me an idea (I already know that tunnel). It is probably south-east. Jeff Kaylin, Highland Park

[@deniedmetal4227]

Why does traffic slow down 😂😂 it slows down because of dumbass drivers trying to merge late or get over in the proper lane last mintue keeping traffic from flowing smoothly

[@gregman05]

Don't forget to slow down when entering the tunnel...

[@PghPA81]

I wished you would have asked why they think it is OK to stop tunnel traffic during rush hour to let PennDot vehicles in and out of the facility when there is not an emergency. This should not happen. It just adds to the congestion.

[@thisnewnamesystemisdumb]

For safety, stupid. 🤦‍♂️

[@SteveHoover69]

Wooooooooow I’m no traffic scientist but I noodled that out.

[@bobroberts2371]

Ned Flanders , Fetterman voter.