Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
Welcome to one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel! This astounding feat of engineering and transportation was built in 1964 and is an extremely important East Coast travel convenience. The 20-mile long bridge-tunnel holds US 13 Highway as well as two one-mile tunnels under Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake Navigation systems. On each side of these tunnels are two man-made islands of about 5.25 acres. There are two toll booths at the very beginning and end of the bridge-tunnel, which is technically named the Lucius Kellam Jr. Bridge-Tunnel but is owned by the Chesapeake Bay Alliance.
With transportation making it possible to cross over, as well as under open waters of the Atlantic, it is easy to see why this bridge also earned the outstanding civil engineering achievement award. A total of over 116 million commercial and passenger vehicles having crossed it since its inception, putting into numbers just how important this structure is. High traffic actually precipitated a major remodel in 1999 when the highway was changed to a 4-lane roadway. The bridge-tunnel cuts 95 miles from Virginia Beach to Wilmington, Delaware, and also serves as a direct link from Southeastern Virginia to the Delmarva Peninsula. Bring your camera and prepare yourself for a trip across one of the most important transportation feats in the Chesapeake Bay area!
