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Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
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The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 23-mile (37-km) long fixed link that connects the Delmarva Peninsula with southeastern Virginia in the United States. It crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and connects the independent cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia to Cape Charles in Northampton County along with the rest of the eastern shore of Virginia.
The bridge-tunnel uses a combination of bridges and tunnels over and under two widely separated shipping channels, using four artificial islands built in the bay as portals.
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Encyclopedia
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 23-mile (37-km) long fixed link that connects the Delmarva Peninsula with southeastern Virginia in the United States. It crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and connects the independent cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia to Cape Charles in Northampton County along with the rest of the eastern shore of Virginia.
The bridge-tunnel uses a combination of bridges and tunnels over and under two widely separated shipping channels, using four artificial islands built in the bay as portals. The CBBT complex carries U.S. Route 13, the main north-south highway on Virginia's Eastern Shore, and, as part of the East Coast's longstanding Ocean Highway, provides the only direct link between Virginia's Eastern Shore and South Hampton Roads regions, as well as an alternate route to link the Northeast and points in between with Norfolk and the Carolinas.
Financed by toll revenue bonds, the bridge-tunnel was opened on April 15, 1964. It was officially named the Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge-Tunnel in August 1987 after one of the civic leaders who had long worked for its development and operation. However, it continues to be best known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
From 1995 to 1999, at a cost of almost $200 million, the capacity of the above-water portion was increased to four lanes. An upgrade of the two-lane tunnels was proposed, but this project has not yet been carried out due to expense.
The CBBT was built by and is operated by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia governed by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission. The CBBT's costs are recovered through toll collections.
Settling both sides of the Chesapeake Bay
In December 1606, the Virginia Company of London sent an expedition to North America to establish a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from England, they reached the New World at the southern edge of the mouth of what is now known as the Chesapeake Bay. They named the Virginia capes after the sons of their king, the southern Cape Henry, for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the northern Cape Charles, for his younger brother, Charles, Duke of York. A few weeks later they established their first permanent settlement on the southern, mainland, side of the bay, along the James River at Jamestown.
Across the bay, the area north of Cape Charles was located along what became known later as the Delmarva Peninsula. As it bordered the bay to its west, the region became known as Virginia's Eastern Shore. As the entire colony grew, the bay was a formidable transportation obstacle for exchanges with the Virginia mainland. One of the eight original shires of Virginia was established there in 1634, eventually becoming the two counties of modern times. However, in comparison to mainland regions, commerce and growth was limited by the need to cross the bay. Consequently, little industrial base grew there, and most residents made their living by farming and working as watermen, both on the Bay (locally known as the "bay side") and in the Atlantic Ocean ("sea side").
For the first 350 years, ships and ferry systems provided the primary transportation link across the bay. By the early 20th century, the ferry service had evolved into one capable of transporting railroad cars and motor vehicles. A subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad operated a terminal in Norfolk which connected by ferry to the southern end of a rail line near Cape Charles which extended north to Wilmington, Delaware.
1930s-1960s Ferry system
From the early 1930s to 1954, Virginia Ferry Corporation, a privately-owned public service company managed a scheduled vehicular (car, bus, truck) and passenger ferry service between the Virginia Eastern Shore and Princess Anne County (now part of Virginia Beach) in the South Hampton Roads area. This system, a portion of U.S. Route 13, was known as the Little Creek Ferry.
Despite operating an expanding fleet of large and modern ships eventually capable of as many as 90 one-way trips each day, the service offered by the ferry system was considered inadequate by many users. The trips took a long time, and there were often delays due to heavy traffic and inclement weather.
In 1954, the Virginia General Assembly (state legislature) created a political subdivision, the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District and its governing body, the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Commission. The Commission was authorized to acquire the private ferry corporation through bond financing, to improve the existing ferry service.
Studying a fixed crossing
In 1956, the General Assembly authorized the Ferry Commission to conduct feasibility studies for the construction of a fixed crossing. The conclusion of the study indicated that a vehicular crossing was feasible. Initially, high-level bridges were contemplated to cross over the two main shipping channels, Thimble Shoals Channel, which leads to Hampton Roads, and the Chesapeake Channel, which leads to points north in the Bay, notably the Port of Baltimore. However, the U.S. Navy objected, due to concerns that collapse of high level bridge(s) (due to either accidental or deliberate action) could cause a large portion of the Atlantic fleet based at the Norfolk Navy Base at Sewell's Point and other craft within the Hampton Roads harbor area to be blocked from access to the Atlantic Ocean.
To address these concerns, the engineers recommended a series of bridges and tunnels known as a bridge-tunnel, similar in design to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, which had been completed in 1957, but a considerably longer and larger facility. The tunnel portions, anchored by four man-made islands of approximately each, would be extended under the two main shipping channels. The CBBT was designed by the engineering firm Sverdrup & Parcel of St. Louis, Missouri, who also served as the construction manager for the project.
1960-1964 Building the CBBT
In the summer of 1960, the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Commission sold $200 million in toll revenue bonds to private investors, and the proceeds were used to finance the construction of the Bridge-Tunnel. Funds collected by future tolls were pledged to pay the principal and interest on the bonds. No local, state or federal tax funds were used in the construction of the project.
Construction contracts were awarded to a consortium of Tidewater Construction Corporation and Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation. The steel superstructure for the high-level bridges near the north end of the crossing were fabricated by the American Bridge Division of United States Steel Corporation. Construction of the Bridge-Tunnel began in October 1960 after six months were spent assembling the needed equipment from throughout the world.
The construction was accomplished under the severe conditions imposed by nor'easters, hurricanes, and the unpredictable Atlantic Ocean. During the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, much of the work partially completed and a major piece of custom-built pile driver barge called "The Big D" were destroyed. Seven workers were killed at various times during the construction. In April 1964, 42 months after construction began, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened to traffic, and the ferry service was discontinued.
CBBT and Lucius J. Kellam Jr
The Ferry Commission and transportation district it oversees, created in 1954, were later renamed for the revised mission of building and operating the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The CBBT district is a public agency and it is a legal subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. However, the Bridge-Tunnel is supported financially by the tolls collected from the motorists who use the facility.
Eastern Shore native, businessman, and civic leader Lucius J. Kellam Jr. (1911-1995) was the original Commission's first chairman. In a commentary at the time of his death in 1995, the Norfolk-based Virginian-Pilot newspaper recalled that Kellam had been involved in bringing the multi-million-dollar bridge-tunnel project from dream to reality.
Before it was built, Kellam handled a political fight over the location, and addressed concerns of the U.S. Navy about prospective hazards to navigation to and from the Norfolk Navy Base at Sewell's Point.
Kellam was also directly involved in the negotiations to finance the ambitious crossing with bonds. According to the newspaper article, "there were not-unfounded fears that (1) storm-driven seas and drifting or off-course vessels could damage, if not destroy, the span and (2) traffic might not be sufficient to service the entire debt in an orderly way. Sure enough, bridge portions of the crossing have occasionally been damaged by vessels, and there was a long period when holders of the riskiest bonds received no interest on their investment."
An icon of Eastern Virginia politics, Kellam remained chairman and champion of the CBBT throughout the hard times, and the bondholders were eventually paid as toll revenues caught up with expenses. He continued to serve until he was over 80 years old, finally retiring in 1993. He had held the post for 39 years.
The facility was renamed in his honor in 1987, over 20 years after it was first opened to traffic.
One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World
Following the CBBT's opening in 1964, it was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as "One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World" in a worldwide competition that included more than one hundred major projects.
The individual components of the Bridge-Tunnel are not the longest or the largest ever built. However, the total project was unique in the number of different types of major structures included in one crossing and the fact that it was built under adverse conditions.
The CBBT is no longer on the ASCE list, having been replaced by a more recent engineering wonder.
1995-1999 Additional trestles and lanes added
At a cost of $197 million, new parallel two-lane trestles were built both to alleviate traffic and for safety reasons. Immediately after completion of the parallel trestles, traffic was diverted to them and the original trestles and roadway underwent a $20 million retrofit, repairing the wear and tear of 35 years of service and upgrading certain features, such as repaving the road surface. The older portion of the facility was then reopened on April 19, 1999.
The 1995-1999 project increased the capacity of the above-water portion of the facility to four lanes, added wider shoulders for the new southbound portion, facilitated needed repairs, and provided protection against a total closure should a trestle be struck by a ship or otherwise damaged (which had occurred twice in the past); partially for this reason, the parallel trestles are not located immediately adjacent to each other, reducing the chance that both would be damaged during a single incident.
While there has been planning work done to expand tunnel capacities as well, the facility currently continues to utilize only the original two-lane tunnels. Plans to replace the two-lane tunnels with new and deeper four-lane versions were postponed indefinitely in 2005 at the direction of the Virginia General Assembly. Debate centered around the facts that while greater bay shipping and security would be enhanced by replacing the existing tunnels, the traffic counts and substantial cost estimates dictate that improvements for other water crossings in the Hampton Roads area may become higher priorities. The estimated cost of replacing the tunnels was $900 million.
Facts and figures
- The CBBT is 17.6 miles (28.3 km) long from shore to shore, crossing what is essentially an ocean strait. Including land-approach highways, the overall facility is long (20 miles from toll-plaza to toll-plaza) and despite its length, there is only a height difference of from the south to north end of the bridge-tunnel.
- Key features are two one-mile (1.6 km) tunnels beneath Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake navigation channels and two high-level bridges (75 ft; 23 m) over two other navigation channels: North Channel Bridge and Fisherman Inlet Bridge. The remaining portion comprises 12 miles (19 km) of low-level trestle, two miles (3 km) of causeway, and four man-made islands.
- The Bridge-Tunnel's concrete supporting columns are called piles. If placed end to end, the piles alone could reach from New York to Philadelphia.
- Toll collection facilities are located at each end of the facility. Tolls are paid in each direction, before crossing. As of 2006, the toll for cars (without trailers) traveling along the CBBT is $12. However, should a car make a return trip within 24 hours of the first, the second trip across only costs $5. Motorcycles pay the same toll as cars without trailers. All other vehicles are charged based on size and purpose and are not subject to the return trip discount. All tolls must be paid either in cash, by scrip tickets issued by the CBBT, or via E-ZPass electronic toll collection. The Bridge-Tunnel began accepting Smart Tag/E-ZPass payments on November 1, 2007.
- All toll lanes including E-ZPass only lanes are gated for several safety concerns and to turn around inadmissible vehicles. For example:
- Strong winds have blown over certain vehicles. Therefore, some vehicles are banned when the wind speed exceeds 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) and level 5 wind restrictions with hurricane force winds and other inclement weather conditions ban all traffic.
- Hazardous materials and compressed gas require various restrictions and inspections to safeguard the tunnels.
- Both tunnels have the height limit of 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m). An over-height truck in April 2007 severely damaged the tunnels. Repairing took three weeks.
- Should police activities, accidents, or closures stop traffic from moving freely, gates prevent drivers from entering and then being forced to turn around within the narrow space or to wait too long in the middle of the bridge-tunnel.
- The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel saves motorists 95 miles (152 km) and 1½ hours on a trip between Virginia Beach/Norfolk and New York. The $12 toll is partially offset by some savings of tolls in Maryland and Delaware on I-95.
- Since it opened, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has been crossed more than 67 million times by motorists.
- It is mandatory that the bridge be checked and serviced every five years. Since servicing the bridge takes about five years, the work never stops.
- The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is unique in that it employs its own Police Department to patrol the entire Bridge Tunnel complex. Its police department, by original charter from the Commonwealth, has jurisdiction throughout Virginia.
- Sea Gull Island is located on the southernmost of the Bridge-Tunnel's four manmade islands, 3-1/2 miles from Virginia Beach. This island provides the traveling public an opportunity to stop and partake in a number of recreational activities such as fishing, resting, and eating. An interpretive display of the construction of the Bridge-Tunnel is located just outside the Restaurant/Gift Shop.
- The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel prohibits bicycles but offers a shuttle van for 12 USD. Cyclists must call ahead.
See also
External links
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