Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Drive Guide

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel carries U.S. 13 for 17.6 miles straight across the open mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, from Virginia Beach to the tip of the Eastern Shore — 12 miles of it low bridge skimming the water, and then, twice, the road simply dives and disappears into a mile-long tunnel bored under the shipping channels so the Navy’s carriers and the world’s freighters can pass overhead. Opened in 1964 and designed by Sverdrup & Parcel, it was called one of the engineering wonders of the modern world, and driving it feels like it: you’re a speck of car on a thread of concrete with nothing but bay to the horizon on both sides, until the pavement drops and the sky vanishes and you’re under the sea. It saves about 95 miles over driving around through Washington.