On July 6, 1987, the Memorial Tunnel officially closed, and two lanes of the open cut just to the north of it were opened.
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Traffic just to the west of this interchange used the two-lane Bender Bridge and Memorial Tunnel.
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The bypass was not the first of its kind on a toll road, as the Pennsylvania Turnpike bypassed the Laurel Hill Tunnel in 1964 in similar fashion, and later bypassed two more tunnels with a single stretch of highway in 1968.
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The new Memorial Tunnel bypass cost $35 million and required years of work.
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The former Memorial Tunnel was used for storage until the mid-1990s, when it became a testing center for tunnel-fire suppression for Boston's Big Dig project.
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The Memorial Tunnel on the West Virginia Turnpike was bypassed in 1987 to complete upgrading that highway to Interstate standards.
Unlike the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the West Virginia Turnpike was built two lanes for its entire length, and needed an additional two lanes in order to get the I-77 and I-64 designations.