Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Coming down from the high-level portion near the north end.
Official name	Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge-Tunnel
Carries	4 lanes (4 on bridges, 2 in tunnels) of US 13
Crosses	Chesapeake Bay
Locale	Virginia Beach, Virginia to Cape Charles, Virginia
Maintained by	Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission
Design	Composite: Low-level Trestle, Single-tube Tunnels, Man made islands, Truss bridges, High-level Trestle
Total length	23 miles (37 km)[1]
Clearance below	75 feet (North Channel) 40 feet (Fisherman Inlet)
Opening date	April 15, 1964 (northbound) April 19, 1999 (southbound)
Toll	Cars $12 (each direction, round trip discount available)
Maps and aerial photos Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 23 mile (37 km) long facility that connects the Delmarva Peninsula with southeastern Virginia in the United States. It crosses the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and connects the independent cities of Virginia Beach & Norfolk, Virginia to Cape Charles in Northampton County along with the rest of the eastern shore of Virginia. U.S. Highway 13 is a north-south United States highway that runs for 526 miles from the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia to just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina. ... The Chesapeake Bay - Landsat photo The Chesapeake Bay where the Susquehanna River empties into it. ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... Cape Charles is a town located in Northampton County, Virginia. ... Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... Steel trestle with plate girder spans A trestle is a bridge that consists of a large number of short spans, supported by splayed vertical elements and is usually for railroad use. ... A disused railway tunnel now converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, near Houyet, Belgium A tunnel is an underground passage. ... A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements (typically straight) which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. ... Steel trestle with plate girder spans A trestle is a bridge that consists of a large number of short spans, supported by splayed vertical elements and is usually for railroad use. ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Swedish/Norwegian mil. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer) (symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Delmarva Peninsula map The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by portions of three U.S. states: Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,793 sq mi (110,862 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... The Chesapeake Bay - Landsat photo The Chesapeake Bay where the Susquehanna River empties into it. ... An independent city is a city that does not form part of another local government entity. ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... Motto: Crescas (Latin for, Thou shalt grow. ... Cape Charles is a town located in Northampton County, Virginia. ... Northampton County is a county located in the state of Virginia. ...

The bridge-tunnel uses a combination of bridges and tunnels over and under two widely separated shipping channels, using four man-made 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. Aerial view of parallel trestles and one of four man-made islands which anchor tunnel portions of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia, longest in the world A bridge-tunnel is a water crossing facility which uses a combination of bridge and tunnel structures. ... This article is about the edifice (including an index to articles on specific bridge types). ... A disused railway tunnel now converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, near Houyet, Belgium A tunnel is an underground passage. ... In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks. ... U.S. Highway 13 is a north-south United States highway that runs for 526 miles from the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia to just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina. ... 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 United States from Jacksonville, Florida to New York City. ... The Eastern Shore of Virginia is on the Atlantic Coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States. ...

Financed by toll revenue bonds, it was opened on April 15, 1964.^[1] The bridge-tunnel 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. 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 expressway, bridge, or tunnel. ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1995, at a cost of almost US$200 million, work began to increase the capacity of the above-water portion on trestles and bridges to four lanes, and was completed in 1999. An even more costly proposition, the two-lane tunnels were not upgraded at that time.

Ferry system

From the early 1930s to 1954, Virginia Ferry Corporation, a privately-owned public service company managed scheduled vehicular (car, bus, truck) and passenger ferry service between the Virginia Eastern Shore and the Hampton Roads area which was known as the Little Creek Ferry. The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A public service company (or public utility company) is a corporation or other non-governmental business entity (i. ... The Pride of Rotterdam, One of the P&O Ferriess Flagships operating the Hull-Rotterdam Route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ... Eastern Shore refers to many places, including: Maryland Eastern Shore Eastern Shore (Nova Scotia) Eastern Shore (electoral district) of Nova Scotia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Hampton Roads, from state map of pre-civil war Virginia circa 1858 Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water and the land areas which surround it in southeastern Virginia in the USA. Hampton Roads is notable for its huge ice-free harbor, for U.S. naval...

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. Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Virginia General Assembly is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state. ... Subnational entity is a generic term for an administrative region within a country — on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state — typically with a local government encompassing multiple municipalities, counties, or provinces with a certain degree of autonomy in a varying number of matters. ...

Studying and building 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 and recommended a series of bridges and tunnels. The Bridge-Tunnel was designed by the engineering firm Sverdrup & Parcel of St. Louis, Missouri, who also served as the construction manager for the project. Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Leif Johan Sverdrup (1898 to 1976) was a Norwegian-American civil engineer and military officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

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. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 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 expressway, bridge, or tunnel. ...

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 American Bridge Company is a privately held civil engineering firm specializing in the construction and renovation of bridges and other large civil engineering projects, founded in 1900, and headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. ... The United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe. ...

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 construction equipment 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. Satellite image of the intense noreaster responsible for the North American blizzard of 2006. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ... Damage at Virginia Beach, Virginia in March, 1962 photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 occurred on March 6-8, 1962 along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

Additional trestles and lanes added

Info sign at the rest area with map of new bridge

At a cost of $197 million, new parallel two-lane trestles 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, added wider shoulders for the new southbound portion, 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); 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. Parallel is a term in geometry and in everyday life that refers to a property in Euclidean space of two or more lines or planes, or a combination of these. ... Steel trestle with plate girder spans A trestle is a bridge that consists of a large number of short spans, supported by splayed vertical elements and is usually for railroad use. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

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.

CBBT and Lucius J. Kellam Jr

The Ferry Commission and transportation district it oversees, created in 1954, were later renamed for 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. 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. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... -1... Hampton Roads, Virginia 1858 Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. ...

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. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

The facility was named in his honor in 1987, over 20 years after it was first opened to traffic. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a professional body, founded in 1852, to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. ...

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.

Facts and figures

CBBT official logo

• 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 23 miles (37 km) long and despite its length, there is only a height difference of 6 inches from the south to north end of the bridge-tunnel.

• Key features are two one-mile 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 is comprised of 12 miles (19 km) of low-level trestle, two miles of causeway, and four man-made islands.

• Man-made islands, each approximately 5.25 acres (21,000 m²) in size, are located at each end of the two tunnels. Between North Channel and Fisherman Inlet, the facility crosses at-grade over Fisherman Island, a barrier island which includes the Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

• 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.^[2] All tolls must be paid either in cash or by scrip tickets issued by the CBBT; there are currently no facilities for electronic toll collection, but the Bridge-Tunnel Commission has announced an $1.8 million project to install such equipment.^[3] Smart Tag/E-ZPass acceptance is anticipated by Fall 2007.^[4] The CBBT stands as the most expensive toll crossing in the United States.

• 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.

• A restaurant, gift shop, and fishing pier are located on the southernmost of the four man-made islands.

• Since it opened, more than 67 million vehicles have crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

• 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, gives the department state-wide jurisdiction throughout Virginia.

cbbt logo File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... An underground pedestrian tunnel between buildings at MIT. Note the utility pipes running along the ceiling. ... The Hindenburgdamm rail causeway across the Wadden Sea to the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated by a bank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. ... In geography, a bar is a linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. ... The USFWS logo The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that is dedicated to managing and preserving wildlife. ... Paying toll on passing a bridge. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Many ETC systems use transponders like this one to electronically debit the accounts of registered cars without their stopping Transponder used in some Chilean freeways Electronic toll collection (ETC), an adaptation of military identification friend or foe technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads. ... Smart Tag is a transponder-based electronic toll collection system launched by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) as Fastoll on April 15, 1996. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... Motto: Crescas (Latin for, Thou shalt grow. ... NY redirects here. ... Interstate 95 (abbreviated I-95) is an Interstate highway that runs 1,927 miles (3,101 kilometers) north-south along the east coast of the United States. ...

See also

• List of bridges
• List of tunnels

The list of bridges is a link page for any bridge. ... The list of tunnels includes any road tunnel, railway tunnel or waterway tunnel anywhere in the world. ...

Notes and references

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ...

External links

• Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel official website
• Roads to the Future website
• information from Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Virginian-Pilot newspaper commentary on long-time CBBT Chairman Lucius J. Kellam Jr. at the time of his death in 1995
• Fisherman's Island National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bridges of the Chesapeake Bay
Upstream Chesapeake Bay Bridge	Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel	Downstream Atlantic Ocean