Work crews broke through the stone arch of the 1852 Wabash Creek Tunnel on Thursday, but appeared to shift gears slightly after finding a network of buried asbestos cable duct pipes running parallel to the curb.

The workers were excavating to replace the 166-year-old subterranean bridge when they came upon the asbestos conduit. Each of the pipes measures about six inches in diameter and appears to carry telephone cable along Broad Street.

A representative from Verizon was summoned along with an asbestos abatement unit. A truck from Coventry Environmental of Spring City, Pa., arrived at the project site before noon and workers began to set up a tent shield to begin removal and disposal of the hazardous material.

The $2.1 million PennDOT project is drawing a legion of followers as it uncovers, for the first time, the hidden Wabash Creek where it crosses beneath Broad Street.

"I've never seen this before," said Erla Biasi of Tamaqua, a former educator, as she stopped to take photos.

History enthusiast Joe Rother of Tamaqua also was on hand to witness the event, as was another who said he's familiar with the winding tunnel because he once ventured inside.

"I was in there and went through it with the fire company,"said Matt Moyer of Tamaqua. "We rode in inner tubes."

Former councilman Justin Startzel said work crews ventured inside for clean-up operations following flooding a decade ago when the borough made a commitment to keep up with the tunnel.

"There was even a tax designated for it. I believe it amounts to $35,000 a year," he said.

The Wabash Creek flooded the borough many times throughout history, most notably two destructive events in 1972 and 1969. Each time it filled streets, residences and businesses with mud and coal silt and caused damage to roads.

In 1955, another flood spawned by Hurricane Diane saw both the Wabash Creek and Little Schuylkill River breach their banks, causing the death of a 42-year-old Tamaqua man swept beneath a parked car.

The creek flooded the downtown twice in 2006, first on June 27 and then again November 16.

Shortly after, the borough embarked on an ambitious project to make the waterway less prone to flooding.

Improvements included river bed dredging, repair of its banks and stone arch, and installing a system to catch debris.

The stone arch at the unit block of Broad Street will be replaced with a precast reinforced concrete arch culvert, new bridge roadway approaches and new line painting.

J.D. Eckman Inc., Atglen, is the general contractor. The bridge is 20 feet long, 30 feet wide and posted with a 28-ton weight restriction. The new bridge will have no restrictions.

According to PennDOT, Route 209 at the site of the bridge has an average daily traffic volume of 5,626 vehicles. The creek also crosses beneath Broad Street in the 300 block, along with crossing beneath several other streets, among them South Lehigh, Swatara, Rowe, Nescopec, Spruce, South Railroad and Berwick.

Caption: Workers in Tamaqua broke through the subterranean 1852 stone arch of the Wabash Creek in two locations early Thursday, but not before discovering a network of white asbestos duct pipes, shown here. An asbestos abatement team was summoned to perform removal and disposal of the hazardous material. DONALD R. SERFASS/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS