The Mega Cavern is a former

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

. The

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

stretches under parts of the

Watterson Expressway Interstate 264 (I-264) is a partial loop around the city of Louisville, Kentucky, south of the Ohio River. An auxiliary route of I-64, it is signed as the Shawnee Expressway for its first from its western terminus at I-64/ U.S. Route ...

and the

Louisville Zoo The Louisville Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Louisville Zoo, is a zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, situated in the city's Poplar Level neighborhood. Founded in 1969, the "State Zoo of Kentucky" currently exhibits over 1,700 animals in ...

. Due to its support structures, it is classified as a

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...

and is the largest building in Kentucky. The cavern is used for business, storage, recycling, and tourism, with offerings including

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

-guided tours,

zipline A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on a slope. It is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the b ...

tours, a ropes course, an annual

holiday lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom ...

display, and, previously, a mountain bike park

Description

The Mega Cavern is a structure located in

. About underground, the

stretches under parts of the

and the

. Due to its support structures, it is classified as a

and is the largest building in Kentucky.

History and use

Limestone mine

The cavern started as Louisville Crushed Stone. It was created by a massive

limestone quarry Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when t ...

—with miners blasting out rock for over 42 years during the middle of the 20th century. It was acquired in 1989 by private investors who saw the potential to develop a portion of the cavern into an environmentally-conscious high security commercial storage facility.

Renovation

Business park

Exhausted of its mineable limestone, the property was purchased by Jim Lowry, Tom Tyler and Don Tyler in 1989 to be made into a "high-security business park". In February 2015, the cavern housed 12 businesses in around .

Storage

Because of its relatively stable temperature around and humidity, the cavern was renovated to be used for storage. To be useful, the floor was raised by filling in parts of the mine with

recycled materials Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

. A fire-resistant safety corridor was also installed as an emergency exit. Various rooms are located throughout the cavern to store various items from

road salt Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g/ ...

and vehicles to pretzels and amusement park rides.

Tourism

In 2009, the Mega Cavern began offering a

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Motors ...

-drawn tour of the area where the floor had been raised. Around Christmas, the cavern hosts "Lights Under Louisville" where visitors can drive through the cavern and view lighted holiday decorations; it is the largest such underground display in the world. Several years later, a

tour and a ropes course were added to the offerings. With national and international attention, an underground

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

park was opened to riders of all skill levels in February 2015. It was designed by

Joe Prisel Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

with families in mind, and constructed in over 3 months. With 45 trails in of the cavern's space, it was the world's largest indoor

bicycle park Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except w ...

. The of trails (over interconnected) include " jump lines,

pump track A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping"—generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing. It was originally designed for the mountain bi ...

dual slalom Dual slalom is a mountain bike racing Mountain bike racing (shortened MTB or ATB racing) is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline re ...

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

cross country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

, and

singletrack Singletrack (or single track) describes a type of mountain biking trail that is approximately the width of the bike. It contrasts with double-track or fire road which is wide enough for four-wheeled off-road vehicles. It is often smooth and flow ...

" and signs to indicate the difficulty of the trails. Bike rentals were planned to be offered in the near future. Partially due to the Mega Cavern's recycling business that filled the cave, trails were built with in layers with a rough bottom, sticky, red clay middle, and "good stuff" on top. The bike park is permanently closed.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 38.201585, -85.704127, display=title Sports venues in Louisville, Kentucky Caves of Kentucky Limestone caves Bike paths in Kentucky Quarries in the United States Former mines in the United States Tourist attractions in Louisville, Kentucky Landforms of Louisville, Kentucky