Downtown Tunnel

I-264 Downtown Tunnel

Inside of the Eastbound I-264 Downtown Tunnel, which was renovated in 2014 as part of the Elizabeth River Tunnels Project.
Overview
Official name	Downtown Tunnel
Location	Portsmouth—Norfolk
Status	Open to traffic
Route	I-264 / US 460 Alt.
Operation
Opened	First tunnel: 1952 second tunnel:1987
Owner	VDOT
Operator	Elizabeth River Crossings OpCo, LLC
Traffic	vehicle
Toll	With E-ZPass: $1.94 off peak $2.50 peak [ib 1] Pay by Plate: $5.81 off peak $6.37 peak
Vehicles per day	72,000
Technical
No. of lanes	4 (2 per tunnel)
Operating speed	35 mph
Tunnel clearance	13 feet 6 inches
^ Peak hours are from (5:30-9am, 2:30-7pm)

The Downtown Tunnel on Interstate 264 (I-264) and U.S. Route 460 Alternate (US 460 Alt.) crosses the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in the South Hampton Roads area of Virginia, US. It links the independent City of Portsmouth with the independent City of Norfolk. In conjunction with the Berkley Bridge, the Downtown Tunnel connects to Interstate 464 to the City of Chesapeake and a continuation I-264 to the downtown and Waterside areas of Norfolk, and on to Virginia Beach. Owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), it is operated and maintained by Elizabeth River Crossings under a 58-year public–private partnership concession agreement. Formerly a toll-free facility, open road tolling was implemented on February 1, 2014 by VDOT to help finance repairs and expansion to the tunnel.^[1]