VIRGINIA BEACH (WAVY) — The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has reopened after a head-on crash in one of the tunnels Monday morning.
Bridge-tunnel officials say it involved 3 vehicles in the Chesapeake Tunnel, the one closest to the Eastern Shore, and all north and southbound lanes were blocked for just over an hour. CBBT’s Twitter tweeted about the crash just before 11:30 a.m.
The crash involved an SUV, minivan and a sedan, per Tom Anderson with the CBBT. He says multiple non life-threatening injuries were reported, and two people were taken to the hospital.
The SUV was heading south when it struck the western wall of the tunnel twice, before veering into the eastern wall in the northbound lanes. It then hit the van head-on, and the sedan ran into the back of the SUV, which went perpendicular.
CBBT officials tweeted at 12:39 p.m. the tunnel was expected to reopen within an hour, and minutes later said that all lanes had reopened.
The 17.6 mile bridge-tunnel system connects Virginia Beach to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and traffic runs in opposite directions in the two tunnels.
However the bridge-tunnel is in the process of a $756 million expansion that will finally do away with the opposite traffic in the tunnels. WAVY reported back in October that the project is two years behind schedule and is now set to be completed in mid 2024.
The expansion will have tunnels running parallel to the existing tunnels, with two lanes of same way traffic.
Check back for updates on this breaking news.
