the chesapeake bay bridge-tunnel officially opened for traffic on april 15, 1964.
the chesapeake bay bridge-tunnel officially opened for traffic on april 15, 1964.
when did the chesapeake bay bridge-tunnel officially open for traffic?
april 15 , 1964
the chesapeake bay bridge–tunnel (cbbt) is a bridge–tunnel crossing at the mouth of the chesapeake bay, the hampton roads harbor, and nearby mouths of the james and elizabeth rivers in the american state of virginia. it connects northampton county on the delmarva peninsula and eastern shore with virginia beach, norfolk, chesapeake, and portsmouth on the western shore and south side / tidewater which are part of the hampton roads metropolitan area of eight close cities around the harbor's shores and peninsula. the bridge–tunnel originally combined of trestle, two 1-mile-long (1.6 km) tunnels, four artificial islands, four high-level bridges, approximately of causeway, and of northeast and southwest approach roads—crossing the chesapeake bay and preserving traffic on the thimble shoals and chesapeake dredged shipping channels leading to the atlantic. it replaced vehicle ferry services that operated from south hampton roads and from the virginia peninsula since the 1930s. financed by toll revenue bonds, the bridge–tunnel was opened on april 15, 1964, and remains one of only ten bridge–tunnel systems in the world, three of which are located in the water dominated hampton roads area of tidewater virginia.
chesapeake bay bridge–tunnel
a short distance past the us 60 interchange, us 13 comes to a northbound toll plaza for the chesapeake bay bridge–tunnel. from here, the route heads onto the chesapeake bay bridge–tunnel, a bridge–tunnel complex that carries us 13 across the chesapeake bay. the road leaves the mainland of virginia beach and heads over the bay on a pair of low-level trestle bridges, with one bridge carrying two lanes of northbound traffic and the other bridge carrying two lanes of southbound traffic. the road reaches an artificial island that is home to a fishing pier, where it narrows to a two-lane undivided road and heads into the thimble shoal tunnel that passes under a shipping channel. the roadway leaves the tunnel at another artificial island, at which point it resumes along a pair of low-level trestle bridges carrying two lanes in each direction. the bridge–tunnel curves northeast and reaches another artificial island, where the highway again narrows to a two-lane undivided road and enters the chesapeake channel tunnel that heads under another shipping channel. the road leaves the tunnel on another artificial island and returns to a pair of low-level trestle bridges carrying two lanes in each direction. farther northeast, the roadway rises for the north channel bridges, a high-level crossing of a shipping channel. the northbound span at the north channel bridges consists of a truss bridge. after this, the road heads onto fisherman island, an island in the chesapeake bay in northampton county that contains the fisherman island national wildlife refuge. on this island, us 13 heads off the bridge and turns north as a four-lane divided highway. the roadway leaves the island and heads north across more of the chesapeake bay on the fisherman inlet bridges, a pair of high-level bridges over a shipping channel that carry two lanes in each direction. after this, the route heads onto the mainland of northampton county and passes a scenic overlook next to the southbound lanes before coming to a southbound toll plaza for the chesapeake bay bridge–tunnel and a rest area and welcome center next to the northbound lanes that is accessible from both directions.
u.s. route 13 in virginia