The Midtown Tunnel crosses the main channel of the Elizabeth River in the South Hampton Roads area. It links the independent City of Portsmouth with the independent City of Norfolk. It carries U.S. Highway 58 and operates without tolls.
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The two-lane Midtown Tunnel was completed September 6, 1962, supplementing the Downtown Tunnel and the Berkley Bridge. It was the second fixed crossing directly between Portsmouth and Norfolk across the Elizabeth River. It was financed and built by the Elizabeth River Tunnel Commission with toll revenue bonds. In 1988 and 1989, during an expansion of I-264, the Downtown Tunnel and the Berkley Bridge were rebuilt and expanded. Tolls were also removed from the Midtown and Downtown tunnels at that time. In the westbound lane of US Route 58 right before the tunnel's entry, there is an HOV lane that spans a total of 25 yards (until its removal during construction in 2007). There is some speculation that this might be the shortest HOV lane in the United States, and possibly the world.
In September, 2003, the Midtown Tunnel was flooded and seriously damaged by Hurricane Isabel. The facility is equipped with floodgates designed for closure to protect it from flooding during extreme weather conditions such as East Coast hurricanes. Managers of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) failed to adequately test the floodgates and it was later determined they were malfunctioning and could not close. The Midtown Tunnel was closed for an extended repair period, causing traffic problems in the weeks following the damage.
VDOT revamped its operating procedures at all of its tunnels in the wake of the incident. Studies of additional harbor crossings have also gained additional attention since then.
An announcement was made in the Summer of 2010 from the Virginia Department of Transportation [1] that a new two-lane tunnel will be constructed parallel to the existing Midtown Tunnel[2]. This project, which is expected to begin in mid-2011, will be jointly managed with the safety revisions of the Downtown Tunnel in Norfolk and the expansion of the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway in Portsmouth. Tolls will be used to help pay for the project. Lauren Hansen, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Public Affairs Manager for the Hampton Roads area, stated that those tolls are expected to begin in mid-2012 and will be electronic [3] . Construction is expected to be complete in 2016.
Map of the construction plans[4] including the Midtown Tunnel expansion and the MLK Jr. Expressway
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