The ferry from Kiptopeke to Virginia Beach no longer exists. Today, you take a 17- mile combination of bridges and tunnels to reach the other side of Chesapeake Bay. It is a wondrous trip, even to someone that has experienced BART under San Francisco Bay.
What is different? After a $20 toll (truck plus two-axle trailer), you begin driving across a causeway trestle much like the approaches to the San Mateo Bridge. Then suddenly the road slopes skyward as we climbed across an area that allows fishing ships to pass; soon we plunged back to water level for a while, then in the middle of the bay we plunged below water level into a tunnel that continues for maybe a mile. We then emerged at water level as if to catch our breath, then again plunged below water for another mile, and back again to the surface until we reached Virginia Beach.
Why did they build it this way? Probably to guarantee no enemy could destroy a bridge and trap our Navy in Chesapeake Bay.
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