Merging up and Down on Chesapeake Bay

We had long known that Interstate 95 was not the only route south from Connecticut, it was just the fastest. The much slower but infinitely more scenic route can be navigated by hugging the Atlantic coastline. This largely waterside passage takes you through hundreds of winding miles of terrain that may vary enormously in types of vegetation and of communities, but is consistent in one major regard. The entire east coast is characterized by an unchanging flatness. The road may meander but as far as the eye can see the virtually level surface of the ocean is duplicated by the adjoining areas of land. The memory of that part of our journey was made enormously more vivid on the return trip during which we passed through the striking contrasts evident in The Shenandoah Valley with occasional excursions up to and across the peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But this consideration of "Up vs. Down" was also at work when traversing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The tourism folder describes it thusly: "Whether you are driving north or south, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel showcases the mighty surge of the Atlantic Ocean, the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay, and the soaring grace of an engineering marvel. Both a tourist attraction and a travel convenience, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connects Virginia's Eastern Shore with the Virginia mainland at Virginia Beach near Norfolk."

This was our first time across that engineering marvel. Someone once tried describing it to me and from that description I drew the wrong conclusion. She described what for her was a fearful experience. She talked about going up and down and that together with her obvious discomfort made me think of a very steep bridge almost like a roller coaster. Now I realize that was not at all what she meant.

This continuous structure repeatedly alternates between being a bridge that crosses over the water and a tunnel that is submerged below the surface. In reality there are two separate and parallel bridge tunnels, one for traffic in each direction. On the particular day of our crossing it was foggy, not slightly foggy but what the airline industry would describe as "socked in" foggy. It was so foggy that it was hard to tell when we were on the bridge and when in the tunnel.

The capstone of the experience was toward the end when we turned off at a rest stop about 3/4 of the way across. I pulled into a parking spot and realized that suddenly the fog was gone and the sky had completely cleared of cloud cover. We could now see for miles across the waters surface. Looking back from whence we came the long sweeping curve of the bridge was visible just feet above the water and then as our eyes followed that curve the bridge was seen to gradually dip and then disappear entirely beneath the waters surface. That happens in each instance when the bridge transforms into a tunnel. It was truly a sight to behold.