From an electrical room to a storage unit, there has been broad speculation on social media about the purpose behind the overhead windows in the George Massey Tunnel.
Rooms with windows overlooking traffic, located near the ceiling at both ends of the tunnel, were built to monitor traffic when the structure was constructed in 1959, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Control operators would watch from the windows to "observe traffic and respond to any incidents."
In 1982, the counter-flow lane was introduced and cameras were installed to monitor traffic.
"The windows were no longer needed when this function moved to Lane Operations Centres at structures that needed counterflow traffic, including the Massey Tunnel and Lions Gate Bridge," said the ministry.
Now, traffic monitoring is done centrally at the ministry's traffic management centre in Coquitlam.
Electrical ducts were installed in the room at the south end during an upgrade of the George Massey Tunnel as can be seen with the wiring and brickwork around the windows.
The windows are now covered and the rooms are no longer in use.
In a Reddit post, several users mentioned they had walked through the separate service tunnels, used by staff, on both sides of the main tunnel to access the former traffic-monitoring rooms.
An industrial film titled Deas Island Tunnel, posted on the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's page, also shows the full construction of the George Massey Tunnel.
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