Inspiring tales as old as Himes Hall, the tunnel system lurking below the sunny and well-traversed Quad has spurred student curiosity and decades of urban legends.
Drafted into the original campus plans by Theodore Link, the master planner and architect for the University, the oldest tunnels were installed with the rest of the Quad around 1927, according to Jim Mayne, associate director of Utility Services.
The tunnels are responsible for transporting steam, natural gas, chill water, some domestic water, sewage and drainage to and from buildings and the campus Power House.
Mayne said the tunnels’ original concept was centered on providing steam and heat to buildings.
“Originally that small set of tunnels did service the buildings in the Quad, but we do have other tunnels that come off of that and come out of the Power House that serve additional areas on campus,” Mayne said.
The Quad tunnel reaches the Pentagon community, snakes behind Hill Memorial Library and goes out toward the Journalism and Cox Communications buildings.
A tunnel leading to the Law Center is one of the newer portions, running from the Power House directly to the Art Building, then down South Campus Drive to Highland Road, running north to the Law Center.
At one time, steam came from that tunnel to the University Laboratory School but that portion of the system has been replaced, Mayne said. However, steam still runs to the Law Center through the tunnel, as well as to the Faculty Club.
In some areas the underground piping runs through trench-sized tunnels rather than walkable passages, like one that runs across Highland Road to Grace King Hall.
Mayne said students have long been intrigued by the underground tunnel system.
“It was popular for students to try to get in the tunnels when ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ was popular,” he said. “My wife attended LSU in the 1970s, and it was one of the challenges of her friends to go down in tunnels and come up in the Parade through.”
Students have also spread stories about tunnels connecting dorms, but Mayne assured that would also be impossible since most of the dorms don’t have tunnels going into them, and a person can’t go from the tunnel to the inside of a building.
Mayne said the only animals living and breeding in the underbelly of the University are cats and rats, but he personally hasn’t seen either.
Areas of campus that are not powered by utilities run through the tunnels have direct buried pipes with steam lines buried into the ground, which provides better insulation.
Spencer Harbin, psychology and history senior, said he has friends who have traveled through the tunnels.
“I heard they were old military tunnels,” Harbin said. “I’d really like to go down there just to see where they go, but I think they have some of the entrances blocked off.”
Justin Overman, history senior, said he heard the tunnels ran underneath Tiger Stadium.
“I’d want to go down there, but knowing my luck I’d get caught,” he said.
For safety issues, most tunnel entrances and exits remain unlocked.
Mayne said it’s possible for a gasket to blow or a steam line to fail and cause a maintenance worker to need a quick escape.
“There’s nothing pleasant down there, and I don’t know why people would want to go. I don’t even go down there unless I have to,” he said.
Problems within the system are unusual and are generally indicated by the loud sound of steam leaking or plumes of steam coming from the tunnels.
Workers check the tunnels for problems at least once a quarter, identifying small leaks.
A large repair project by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, a federal government stimulus package, will solve a larger steam-leak issue by reinstalling piping.
Mayne said steam clouds can be seen in areas in front of Blake Hall and around East Laville and West Laville Halls, caused by a condensate leak, although the steam line is in good shape.
“Water contacts the steam line and steam boils off the line, sort of like spitting on an iron,” he said.
Mayne said the leak costs the University around $200 a day, but the loss is only in condensate, not energy.
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]