John W. from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/5/2022 11:46:42 AM:
I just heard back from a C&O employee and there are no changes in 2022. The tunnel status is the same as last summer. It’s technically “open” but the downstream side is closed and they recommend the detour up and over the hill to bypass the bad parts of the rock fall.
That said, many have gone through and carefully negotiated the debris after you exit the tunnel, most of which you will be walking your bike over. The risk, besides rocks falling on you, is that it’s so muddy and impassable that you have to do a 180 and go back through the tunnel to reach the detour. That will at be an hour of wasted time minimum. You can attempt it but be prepared to have to turn back. Like Rivnuts said, as you are 10 miles or so from the tunnel, ask approaching riders what they did. Did you ride through or take the detour? If the majority say they went though then you know its a relatively easy pass. That’s what I experienced last summer when I went through.
The person that I spoke to added that they are hoping the project gets completed by the end of 2022 but no guarantees so this whole summer riding season will see the detour question appear again.
Good luck.