Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District
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The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District is a political subdivision of the
Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
. It is overseen by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission, and operates the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...
between the Hampton Roads and Eastern Shore regions of the state. The District comprises six cities, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, and the two Eastern Shore counties of Northampton and Accomack.


History

By the early 20th century, the Chesapeake Bay was becoming an increasing transportation obstacle for the growing number of motor vehicles. The Pennsylvania Railroad operated some passenger and railroad car ferry services between the Eastern Shore and
Old Point Comfort Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Previously known as Point Comfort, it lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States. It was renamed ...
on the
Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the n ...
and
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
in
South Hampton Roads South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia's Tidewater region in the United States with a total population of 1,191,937. It is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA (Metropolitan S ...
. The Little Creek Ferry operated between the Eastern Shore and Princess Anne County and transported vehicles as part of
U.S. Route 13 U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a north–south U.S. highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina to US 1 in the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Morrisville ...
and the
Ocean Highway Ocean Highway was a designation established early in the 20th century for a combination of roadways and water-crossings for motor vehicles which would generally traverse as close as possible to the Atlantic Ocean along the East Coast of the Unite ...
. In 1953, the Pennsylvania Railroad announced an end to the service to Old Point Comfort. Worse yet, despite adding more ships, and making as many as 90 one-way crossings a day, the Little Creek Ferry was also proving inadequate. A fixed crossing had long been desired, but was not feasible due to the risk of blocking access to the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's extensive facilities in Hampton Roads. The shortest possible crossing would be approximately 15 miles, far too long for a
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
such as the
Downtown Tunnel The Downtown Tunnel on Interstate 264 (I-264) and U.S. Route 460 Alternate (US 460 Alt.) crosses the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in the South Hampton Roads area of Virginia, US. It links the independent City of Ports ...
across the Elizabeth River which was completed in 1952. Responding to the problem, in 1954, the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...
created the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District and the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Commission to oversee it. The agency set about the matters of improving bay ferry service and exploring the possibilities of building a fixed crossing.
Toll revenue bond A toll revenue bond is a financial promissory note usually issued to generate funds for the construction and/or operation of a public accommodation such as an Controlled-access highway, expressway, bridge, or tunnel. Funds for the repayment are obt ...
s were sold and most of the funds used to purchase the Virginia Ferry Corporation, a
public service company A public service company (or public utility company) is a corporation or other non-governmental business entity (i.e. limited partnership) which delivers public services - certain services considered essential to the public interest. The ranks of su ...
which was the operator of the Little Creek Ferry Service. A portion of the funds were designated for a study of a fixed crossing. A
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
across the Bay was unacceptable to the Navy, and a long tunnel was also considered infeasible. The answer, however, lay close at hand. A similar situation had earlier confronted the crossing of Hampton Roads between Old Point Comfort and South Hampton Roads, and a solution found in a combination of bridge and tunnel which came to be known as a bridge-tunnel. In 1957, the
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Hamp ...
was completed, using bridges on each end, and a tunnel under the shipping channel. It was necessary to build artificial islands to anchor the ends of the tunnel, and it was costly to construct, but the design met all the various requirements. In the late 1950s, an engineering feasibility study of using a combination of bridges and tunnels was performed under the direction of civil engineer Leif J. Sverdrup and his company. Ultimately, a 23 mile-long project, with 17.4 miles of bridge and tunnel construction, was planned. The names of the District and Commission were changed to reflect the new primary mission. $200 million in toll revenue bonds were sold in August 1960, and construction began the following month. The new bridge-tunnel opened in 1964 as a two lane facility. The Little Creek Ferry service was discontinued, with most ships sold to service the Cape May–Lewes Ferry across the
Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland ...
between
Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...
and
Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...
.


Lucius J. Kellam Jr.

Eastern Shore native, businessman, and civic leader Lucius J. Kellam Jr. was the original Commission's first chairman. In a commentary at the time of his death in 1995, the ''Virginian-Pilot'' newspaper (Norfolk) 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 The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
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."


J. Clyde Morris

The first executive director of the CBBT was
J. Clyde Morris James Clyde Morris (July 4, 1909 – September 21, 1987) was an American civic leader in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia. His career spanned 32 years of public service. Morris served as the only city manager of the short-live ...
, who had previously served as the Manager of Warwick County, which had become an
independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
in 1952 and merged with
Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
in 1958. A stretch of highway in Newport News is named for him.


Adding additional lanes

At a cost of $197 million, new
parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of ...
two-lane
trestles ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Labora ...
were built both to alleviate traffic and for safety reasons, opening on April 19, 1999. This increased the capacity of the above-water portion of the facility to four lanes, facilitated needed repairs, and helped insure against a total closure should a trestle be struck by a ship or otherwise damaged (which had occurred twice in the past). While there has been planning work done to expand tunnel capacities as well, and tolls were increased in anticipation of this, the facility currently continues to utilize only the original two-lane tunnels.


Controversy

In the early 21st century, the Commission came under increased public scrutiny. Benefits and travel expenses of members reported by a local newspaper appeared wasteful. The need for additional tunnel construction was also questioned by state and local officials, who compared the CBBT's light traffic count to the heavy burdens and congestion on other water-crossings in the Hampton Roads area. The growing funds from increased CBBT tolls in anticipation of the future tunnel expansion were also considered for possible redirection to other projects. In the 2006 General Assembly, legislation was proposed to limit the power of the agency and/or combine its efforts and resources with other area needs. Regardless of the outcome of these proposals, it is likely that the tunnel expansion project will remain "on hold" and will not proceed for some time to come.


Current officials

, the Chairman of the Commission is Lucius J. Kellam III. The executive director is Jeffrey B. Holland.


External links

{{Official website, http://www.cbbt.com/about-us/commission/ Transportation in Virginia