A total of 13,000 square feet (1,200 m) of industrial tile was used to cover the inside of the tunnels. The tunnels cost $6.9 million (which is the same as $ million in 2021) to build. The then-governor of West Virginia, William Wallace Barron, and the state roads commissioner started construction on the tunnel on August 22, 1963. Barron said it was the largest single building project in the state's Interstate Highway program. The state gave the construction contract to C.J. Langenfelder & Son, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland. During construction, several workers became sick after breathing a lot of carbon monoxide. As a result, the company stopped construction in 1964 until fans were installed. The tunnel officially opened to traffic on December 7, 1966.