| Monitor-merrimac Memorial Bridge-tunnel |
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Information AboutMonitor-merrimac Memorial Bridge-tunnel |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MONITOR-MERRIMAC MEMORIAL BRIDGE-TUNNEL | |
| bridges completed in 1992 | |
| bridges in virginia | |
| tunnels in virginia | |
| bridge-tunnels | |
| newport news, virginia | |
It connects the independent cities of Newport News on the Virginia Peninsula and Suffolk in South Hampton Roads and is part of the Hampton Roads Beltway . The MMMBT was completed in 1992 , provided a second Bridge-tunnel crossing of the Hampton Roads harbor, supplementing the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel which carries Interstate 64 between the independent cities of Hampton and Norfolk . Both facilities are toll-free. The MMMBT cost $400 million to build, and it includes a four-lane tunnel that is 4,800 feet (1,463 m) long, two man-made portal islands, and 3.2 miles (5.1 km) of twin trestle. BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS It is named for the two Ironclad Warships which engaged in the famous Battle Of Hampton Roads on March 8 - 9 , 1862 during the US Civil War . The battle took place between the USS ''Monitor'' and the CSS ''Virginia'' . The latter ship had been rebuilt from the wreck of the USS ''Merrimack'' . The site of the battle was within approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) of the bridge-tunnel structure named by the State of Virginia as a memorial. HISTORICAL NAMES: ''MERRIMACK, VIRGINIA, MERRIMAC'' The name of the warship which served the Confederacy in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads eventually became a continuing source of confusion, to the present day. Of course, she was commissioned by the Confederacy as CSS ''Virginia'' . However, even after she was rebuilt, the Union preferred to call the Confederate ironclad warship by its earlier name, ''Merrimack''. Perhaps because the Union won the US Civil War, the history of the United States generally records the Union version wherever there is a discrepancy with Confederate naming. However, in an apparent quirk in history, at some later time, the name commonly used was shortened to drop the final "-k", hence "the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and the ''Merrimac''". The small community in Montgomery County near the location where the iron for the Confederate ironclad was forged is now known as Merrimac, Virginia . The name of the ''Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel'', built with both Virginia and federal funds, reflects this more recent version. Should the periodic modern efforts to recover more of the Confederate vessel from the depths of Hampton Roads prove successful, it is unclear what name will be applied to the remains. SEE ALSO REFERENCE
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