The Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (HRBT) is a -long Hampton Roads crossing for

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchang ...

and U.S. Route 60. It is a four-lane facility comprising

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 ...

s, trestles, man-made islands, and

tunnels 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 transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

under the main shipping channels for Hampton Roads harbor in the southeastern portion 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 ar ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It connects the historic

Phoebus Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

area of the independent city of

Hampton 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 *Ha ...

near

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

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 ...

with

Willoughby Spit Willoughby Spit is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. It is bordered by water on three sides: the Chesapeake Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and Willoughby Bay to the south. Hist ...

in the city of

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 ...

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 ...

, and is part of the

Hampton Roads Beltway The Hampton Roads Beltway is a loop of Interstate 64 and Interstate 664, which links the communities of the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads which surround the body of water known as Hampton Roads and comprise much of the region of the ...

History and design

Prior to the opening of the HRBT (and well before even the HRBT's counterpart the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel), VDOT operated ferries to carry vehicle traffic across the harbor from the Southside to the Peninsula. There were two routes: one from Hampton Boulevard near Naval Station Norfolk to downtown Newport News, and a second, less popular route from

in Hampton. Traffic at the time was typically about 2500 vehicles per day. The original two-lane structure opened November 1, 1957 at a cost of $44 million as a toll facility. As population and traffic grew, construction on a parallel bridge-tunnel facility began in 1972. The construction of the $95 million second portion of the HRBT was funded as part of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

as authorized under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, as a portion of

I-64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchang ...

, which means that it was funded with 90% FHWA funds from the Highway Trust Fund and 10% state DOT funds. The second span opened on November 1, 1976 as a toll-free roadway.

Design

The HRBT has two -wide lanes each way, on separately built

bridge–tunnel A bridge–tunnel is a persistent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses a combination of bridges and tunnels, and sometimes causeways, and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. Bridge–tun ...

structures. The bridge–tunnel was originally signed as State Route 168 and U.S. Route 60. It later received the

designation when the second span opened in 1976, and, much later, SR 168 was truncated south of the crossing. The centerline of the HRBT tunnels cross a naturally deep channel ranging from 50 to 60 feet deep, 1-1/2 mile wide, with water only 6–10 feet deep between the edge of the deep channel and each shore. Part of the design features of the HRBT involved the use of man-made islands for the tunnel portals at the place where Hampton Roads flows into the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. The Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel south portal island connects to about of land that is the site of

Fort Wool Fort Wool is a decommissioned island fortification located in the mouth of Hampton Roads, adjacent to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT). Now officially known as Rip Raps Island, the fort has an elevation of 7 feet and sits near Old Point ...

, a fort during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and a public park since 1970. Fort Wool is on a man-made island known as Rip Raps, created in 1818. There is a small earthen causeway that connects Fort Wool to the HRBT south portal island including the island across the navigational channel of the mouth of Hampton Roads from Old Point Comfort was created for Fort Calhoun (a portion of the Fort Monroe complex later renamed Fort Wool).

Modern day

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel eastbound span

Given its proximity to the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet home base at

Naval Station Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

, many nearby shipyards and critical port facilities, the HRBT design incorporates a tunnel instead of a more cost effective drawbridge. A bridge–tunnel, if destroyed in wartime or due to natural disaster, would not block the vital shipping channels. 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

, and is also toll-free.

Over-height vehicles

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel entering westbound tunnel

The current westbound tunnel from Norfolk to Hampton is the original tunnel constructed in 1957 and has a lower clearance than the newer eastbound tube built in the 1970s— as opposed to . Because of this, special over-height detectors have been installed near the

end of the bridge alerting the truck driver to stop at the inspection station for a more precise measurement of the trucks height. If a truck driver ignores this alert or for whatever reason doesn't stop at the inspection station, VDOT personnel at the tunnel will be alerted and the truck will be alerted and flagged to stop prior to the entrance to the tunnel, where with a fine of up to $2,500 may be assessed if the over height occurs during rush hour. This is because any vehicle turnaround at the tunnel requires a full-stoppage of traffic in both directions in order to redirect the affected vehicle from one side of the bridge-tunnel to the other. VDOT currently has identified new systems to improve the overheight detection system, by detecting vehicles well in advance of the tunnel to cut down on the over heights approaching the tunnel, This project is estimated to cost the state $900,000.

July 2009 flood

In July 2009, the westbound tube partially flooded after a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

hit the Hampton Roads region. The flooding was caused by a failed water main, which burst and led a chamber below the tunnel roadway to fill with millions of gallons of water. Pumps designed to remove water from the chamber were overwhelmed, and water began to puddle on the roadway, forcing VDOT to close the tunnel for nearly seven hours during midday on July 2, 2009. This closure forced hundreds of thousands of commuters, tourists, as well as Hampton Roads residents heading westbound for the

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

holiday, to divert and go through the MMMBT or the

James River Bridge The James River Bridge (JRB) is a four-lane divided highway lift bridge across the James River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Owned and operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation, it carries U.S. Route 17 (US 17), US 258, ...

, the only alternate routes to get to the Peninsula. The MMMBT had troubles of its own during the afternoon, as a

pileup A multiple vehicle collision (colloquially known as a pile-up, multi-car collision, multi-vehicle collision, or simply a multi) is a road traffic collision involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on high-capacity and high-speed routes such ...

shut down the northbound lanes, closing the tunnel and causing a

traffic jam Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

along I-664. The James River Bridge was also closed on July 2 because of downed wires from the storm. The series of events involving all three water crossings led to a "

perfect storm A perfect storm is a meteorological event aggravated by a rare combination of circumstances. The term is used by analogy to an unusually severe storm that results from a rare combination of Meteorology, meteorological phenomena. Origin The Oxfor ...

" of traffic which led to

gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a gr ...

throughout all major arteries of Hampton Roads. The flooding of the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel caused widespread concern about evacuation capabilities of the region during the approach of a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

, as the HRBT, MMMBT and the James River Bridge serve as the primary

hurricane evacuation route Hurricane evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hurricane. County judges, emergency managers and other officials may recommend a voluntary evacuation or order a mandatory evacuatio ...

s for residents of Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Chesapeake.

July 2016 vehicle crash and fire

At 7:30 pm on July 16, 2016, a two-car collision between a Volkswagen Passat and an Acura occurred three-quarters of the way inside the eastbound tunnel, which travels from Hampton to Norfolk. The Acura was rear-ended by the Passat; both vehicles burst into flames and filled the tunnel with smoke, leaving 35 vehicles stuck inside the tunnel behind the scene. Because neither of the tunnels have escape walkways, 80 drivers and passengers were required to walk out of the tunnel through the smoke, leaving their vehicles behind. Fifteen people were treated on the scene for smoke inhalation, while four others were taken to the hospital. The fires caused moderate to major damage to the walls of the tunnel, which VDOT repaired through nightly road work at the tunnel. The crash shut down traffic in both directions for four hours, finally reopening westbound at 11 pm, and reopening eastbound at 11:45 pm. The driver of the Passat was cited with following too closely by

Virginia State Police The Virginia State Police, officially the Virginia Department of State Police, conceived in 1919 and established in 1932, is the state police force for the U.S. state of Virginia. The agency originated out of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehi ...

Expansion plans

According to VDOT, in 1958, an average of 6,000 vehicles a day used the facility whereas an average of 88,000 vehicles a day were using the crossing in 2008, with volumes exceeding 100,000 during the tourist season, well exceeding the original design capacity of 77,000 vehicles per day, which sparked decades of debate on how to improve traffic flow at the region's most important water crossing. Studies into the growing traffic at the HRBT have roots back to the early 1990s. In 1992, the Virginia General Assembly had requested that VDOT study growing traffic at the HRBT. The conclusion of that study determined that a long-term large-scale solution to the problem would be required to alleviate backups. For the next fourteen years, VDOT would undertake numerous studies in 1999, 2008, 2012 and 2016, to help choose a candidate build that was financially and physically feasible to build. After nearly two decades of studies and planning, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, and the two regional boards responsible for the project ( HRTPO/ HRTAC) voted unanimously in 2016 to a $3.3 billion expansion of the current bridge-tunnel and its approaches from four lanes to four lanes in both directions from the I-664 interchange to the I-564 interchange, with two new, two lane bridge tunnels built to carry traffic eastbound (Hampton to Norfolk). A Final

Environmental Impact Study Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

was published in May 2017, and the Record of Decision from the FHWA was granted in June. On October 29, 2020 a groundbreaking ceremony was held in

for the project it is expected to be completed by November 2025.

References

External links

Roads to the Future website

Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel on Google Maps

* ttp://www.virginiadot.org/travel/hro-tunnel-default.asp Virginia Department of Transportation: Hampton Roads Tunnels and Bridges {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Bridge–tunnels in North America Bridges completed in 1957 Intracoastal Waterway Transportation in Norfolk, Virginia Road tunnels in Virginia U.S. Route 60 Buildings and structures in Norfolk, Virginia Buildings and structures in Hampton, Virginia Former toll bridges in Virginia Former toll tunnels in the United States Transportation in Hampton, Virginia Tunnels completed in 1957 Tunnels completed in 1976 Road bridges in Virginia Interstate 64 Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Former toll roads in Virginia Cross-sea traffic ways in North America Immersed tube tunnels in the United States Crossings of the James River (Virginia) Trestle bridges in the United States