Bridge-tunnel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bridge-tunnel is a water crossing that uses a combination of bridge and tunnel structures.
For water crossings, a tunnel is generally more costly to construct than a bridge. However, navigational considerations at some locations may limit the use of high bridges or drawbridge spans when crossing shipping channels, necessitating the use of a tunnel. Examples of such tunnels include the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan Island in New York City, and the Elizabeth River tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia.
In other instances, when longer distances are involved, a combination of bridges and tunnels may be less costly and easier to ventilate than a single very long tunnel. This situation may occur when more economical drawbridges are not allowed for one reason or another. Examples include the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, both of which across the harbor at Hampton Roads, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a 37 km (23 miles) long structure (including approach highways) that crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay with a combination of bridges and tunnels across two widely separated shipping channels, using four artificial islands built in the bay as portals. Tunnels had to be used instead of drawbridges because the waterways they cross are critical to military naval operations and could not afford to be blocked off by a bridge collapse in the event of disaster or war.
Another example is the Oresund Connection, connecting Sweden and Denmark. It has a 7.8 km (4.8 miles) bridge, an artificial island in the middle of the Oresund strait, and a 4 km (2.5 miles) tunnel nearest to Denmark. A bridge couldn't be built there because it is very near the Copenhagen International Airport.
