Including land-approach highways, the overall facility is 23 miles (37 km) long (20 miles or 32 kilometres from toll-plaza to toll-plaza) and despite its length, there is only a height difference of 6 inches (152 mm) from the south to north end of the bridge–tunnel. The CBBT is 17.6 miles (28.3 km) long from shore to shore, crossing what is essentially an ocean strait. The remaining portion comprises 12 miles (19 km) of low-level trestle, 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and four man-made islands. The ship is passing over the tunnel DimensionsĪmong the key features of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel are two 1-mile (1.6 km) tunnels beneath the Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake navigation channels and two pairs of side-by-side high-level bridges over two other navigation channels: North Channel Bridge (75 ft or 22.9 m clearance) and Fisherman Inlet Bridge (40 ft or 12.2 m clearance). The machine was built in 2018, after some delays, and was shipped to Virginia.Ĭonstruction is scheduled to begin in 2020, and finish in 2023.Ĭhesapeake Bay Bridge + Shoal Tunnel + Trestle(0.2 + 0.75 + 0.19 = 1.15 billion). At that rate, it was estimated that the tunnel would be dug within about one year.Ĭonstruction work began in 2017 to prepare the location of the tunnels, with a pier, shop, and restaurant closed in September 2017. The machine, nicknamed Chessie in a naming contest, was capable of removing 2.4 in (61 mm) of soil per minute, or about 50 ft (15 m) per day. The winning company was German-based Herrenknecht, whose machine was 325 ft (99 m) long. The project received three bids, all of which would use a tunnel boring machine. In 2013, the CBBT Commission approved a project to construct the Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel, with cost estimated at $756 million. Panoramic view of Chesapeake Bay Bridge Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel (projected 2017–2023)
The original 2-lane bridge-tunnel facility was opened in April 1964, took 4 years to build, and it cost $200 million for planning, design, right-of-way, and construction.įrom 1995 to 1999, at an additional cost of almost $200 million, the capacity of the above-water portion of bridges on the facility was increased and widened to four lanes. Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel (CBBT) is a 17.6-mile (28.3 km) 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 U.S.state of Virginia.Ĭhesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel 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.Ĭhesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel originally combined 12 miles (19 km) of trestle, two 1-mile-long (1.6 km) tunnels, four artificial islands, four high-level bridges, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) 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.