| Hampton Roads Bridge-tunnel |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT HAMPTON ROADS BRIDGE-TUNNEL | |
| bridges in virginia | |
| tunnels in virginia | |
| bridge-tunnels | |
| norfolk, virginia | |
| bridges completed in 1957 | |
| intracoastal waterway | |
| u.s. route 60 | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
It connects the historic Phoebus area of the independent city of Hampton near Fort Monroe on the Virginia Peninsula with Willoughby Spit in the city of Norfolk in South Hampton Roads , and is part of the Hampton Roads Beltway . HISTORY The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel has two 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) lanes each way, on separately built Bridge-tunnel structures. The original two-lane structure replaced a Ferry system and opened November 1 , 1957 at a cost of $44 million dollars as a Toll facility. The bridge-tunnel was originally signed as Virginia State Highway 168 although U.S. Highway 60 was simultaneously routed along it (in its original incarnation, traffic going south/east was routed onto U.S. 60 when the crossing was completed). When it later received the Interstate 64 designation, the state routing was truncated, and the U.S. 60 routing became a pair of interchanges. The construction of the original Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was funded with Toll Revenue Bond s. The bonds were paid off before a second portion was opened in 1976 . The construction of the $95 million second portion of the HRBT was funded as part of the Interstate Highway System as authorized under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, as a portion of I-64 , which means that it was funded with 90% FHWA funds from the Highway Trust Fund and 10% state DOT funds. When the second span was opened to traffic, the tolls were removed from the earlier portion. The I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel has two man-made tunnel portal islands, at the place where Hampton Roads flows into the Chesapeake Bay . The two man-made tunnel portal islands were widened to the west to accommodate the parallel bridge-tunnel project 1972–1976. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel south portal island actually does connect to some preexisting land, about 20 acres (8 ha) of land that is the site of Fort Wool , a fort during the US Civil War , World War I and World War II , and a public park since 1970. Fort Wool is on a man-made island known as Rip Raps , created beginning in 1818, which was pre-existing land when the HRBT south tunnel portal island was built 1954-1957, with a small earthen causeway that connects Fort Wool to the HRBT south portal island. Another four-lane facility, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel (MMMBT) was completed in 1992. The MMMBT provided a second bridge-tunnel crossing of the Hampton Roads harbor, supplementing the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and providing some traffic relief. The MMMBT also forms part of the Hampton Roads Beltway , and is also toll-free. The reason the bridge has a tunnel instead of a more cost effective Drawbridge to allow the passage of boats is because of its proximity to Naval Station Norfolk , which berths the bulk of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet. If destroyed in wartime it would not block off the coming and going of these critical military vessels. TRIVIA The current westbound tubes were the original ones from 1957 and have lower clearances than the newer eastbound tubes built in the 1970s, 13'6" (4.1 m) as opposed to 14'6" (4.4 m). There have been several accidents and at least one fatality arising from this anomaly. Special over-height detectors have been installed near the Willoughby Spit end to help prevent future incidents. SEE ALSO REFERENCE
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