Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the date the tunnel closed.

The Toledo Zoo on Monday began restoring a Works Progress Administration-era tunnel that will link the zoo’s north and south sides when it reopens in November.

“This is a tunnel people were really nostalgic about,” Jeff Sailer, the zoo’s executive director, said. “They remember going through it as kids.”

The tunnel will be open to pedestrians in time for the zoo’s annual Lights Before Christmas event, which starts in November. It will provide an alternate pathway extending under the Anthony Wayne Trail from the polar bear exhibit on the zoo’s north side to the flamingo exhibit on the south side.

The zoo plans to install a ramp at one end of the tunnel and an elevator at the other to make it handicap accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The tunnel first opened in the late 1930s. It has not been open to pedestrians since 1997, zoo officials said.

In May, the zoo plans to reopen its Museum of Science, which is also under renovation.

Contact Mark Rosenberg at mrosenberg@theblade.com or 419-724-6194.

First Published June 18, 2018, 9:53 p.m.