PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Editor's note: The above video is a 13News Now investigation into tunnel toll revenue that originally aired in November of 2021.
Monday marks a special occasion for the Downtown Tunnel: the original tunnel passage is officially 70 years old.
The original tunnel, which is now the westbound tube, opened to traffic on May 23, 1952, and connected the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth. According to the tunnel's current operators, Elizabeth River Crossings (ERC), it was the first underwater tunnel in Virginia and only the 11th in the country at the time.
It was originally named the "Norfolk-Portsmouth Bridge-Tunnel" or simply, the "First Tunnel". A second tube was later built to accommodate eastbound traffic, which opened on March 4, 1987.
ERC said that when the tunnel first opened in 1952, it had a toll of 20 cents per axle, plus five cents per passenger for personal vehicles. The toll was eventually eliminated in 1986 (which at that time had a flat rate of 25 cents, with 10 cents per axle for trucks), but the toll-free life of the Downtown Tunnel wouldn't last.
As the Downtown Tunnel, along with the later-built Midtown Tunnel, entered the 21st century, it became apparent that major rehabilitation would be needed for the existing tubes.
A public-private partnership was created in 2012, which gave ERC operations and maintenance of both tunnels while the Virginia Department of Transportation retained ownership. Fixing up and modernizing the tunnels -- as well as building a second tube for the Midtown Tunnel -- meant a return of tolls in 2014.
According to the deal, those tunnel tolls will eventually go away again... in April of 2070.
