I’ve Always Been Terrified of Getting Stuck in a Tunnel — Then, It Happened

Nothing makes the commute more exciting like shutting it off in the middle

Amanda Kay Oaks
6 min readSep 29, 2022
Photo by Gustavo Fring

I live in Pittsburgh, which means my daily commute includes at minimum one bridge and one tunnel. Nearly every day while I sit in traffic in the bowels of said tunnel, I desperately hope never to be in a situation where I’m stuck in there.

This morning, my car’s battery died in the tunnel and I was, in fact, stuck in there.

It was a morning like any other. I woke up, had my coffee and my breakfast, listened to my Wednesday morning podcast, and walked the dog. I grumbled about having to put on work clothes and slather makeup on my face. I did those things anyway.

Then, I left for work. As I drove down the hill, the check battery light in my 2002 Ford Focus popped on and I thought, huh wonder if I should Google what that means. Should I have been more concerned about this? I don’t know, maybe. But then again, I drive a 2002 Ford Focus in the year 2022. Sometimes it does weird things.

As I sat in traffc in the tunnel, looking forward to not being in said tunnel, I glanced down to see that all the lights on the dashboard had gone off.

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Amanda Kay Oaks

Pittsburgh-based writer & wearer of many metaphorical hats. Making words about books, pop culture, witchery, health, travel, and more! She/her.