Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel ( From Space )

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is 17.6 miles long. The concrete support columns for the bridge sections are called pilings, of which there are 5189. Most of them are in the water, and the striped bass like to hang around them. Some of the best striper fishing occurs around the pilings of this bridge.

About the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel spans the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. It is the largest bridge-tunnel complex in the world. Measuring 17.6 miles from shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel consists of of more than 12 miles of trestled roadway, two mile-long tunnels, two bridges, four man-made islands, almost two miles of causeway, and 5 ½ miles of approach roads, totaling 23 miles. The Bridge-Tunnel's concrete supporting columns are called pilings. There are 100 miles of pilings, 5189 in all. If placed end-to-end, the pilings alone would reach from New York to Philadelphia.

Striped bass entering or exiting the Bay must pass through the Bridge-Tunnel complex, and past its' islands and pilings. Barnacles, shellfish, and various crustaceans make the rocks around the islands their home. They attract baitfish, and the baitfish attract stripers. Cast up near the rocky shores of the islands in the early mornings, and catch the stripers feeding on the baitfish.

The stripers use the pilings to hide behind, and ambush baitfish being swept past the pilings by the tidal currents. Fishing is usually best around the pilings on the outgoing tide.

Besides striped bass, more than 20 other species of fish are caught around the Bridge-Tunnel.

It is said that fishing at the Bridge-Tunnel varies between good, better, and fantastic!

The Bridge-Tunnel provides a four-lane vehicular crossing (US Route 13) of the lower Chesapeake Bay. The Bridge-Tunnel connects Virginia Beach/Norfolk to Virginia's Eastern Shore, and cuts 95 miles from the journey between Virginia Beach and points north of Wilmington Delaware.

The Bridge-Tunnel opened for traffic in April of 1964. To date, over 90 million commercial and passenger vehicles have crossed the Bridge-Tunnel.

Soon following its opening, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was selected as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World", and in 1965 it received the "Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement " award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2000, the Bridge-Tunnel ws recognized by Structural Engineer magazine as one of the "Seven Structural Enginnering Wonders of America for the 20th Century."

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