Interstate 664

Interstate 664 is an interstate highway located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia in the eastern United States. It is a 20.7 mile long bypass route of Interstate 64 in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, and forms a portion of the Hampton Roads Beltway.

Its western terminus is at a junction with Interstate 64 on the Virginia Peninsula in Hampton, Virginia. Its eastern terminus is at an intersection with Interstate 264 and Interstate 64 in Chesapeake, Virginia near Bower's Hill.

Interstate 664 in the Hampton Roads area is a bypass section of Interstate 64 which connects the Virginia Peninsula to the western side of Chesapeake, Virginia (and to the eastern terminus of I-64). I-664 is about 20 miles shorter than the bypassed main leg.

One of the more recent portions of the interstate highway system to be built in Virginia, I-664 was completed in April 1992. I-664 includes the 4.6-mile-long Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel across Hampton Roads between the independent cities of Newport News and Suffolk.

Length

Miles	km	state
21		Virginia
21		Total

Major Cities Along the Route

• Hampton, Virginia
• Newport News, Virginia
• Suffolk, Virginia
• Chesapeake, Virginia

Intersections with other Major Highways

• Interstate 64 in Hampton, Virginia
• Virginia State Highway 164 in Suffolk, Virginia
• U.S. Highway 17 in Suffolk, Virginia
• Interstate 264 in Chesapeake, Virginia (at Bowers Hill)
• Interstate 64 in Chesapeake, Virginia (at Bowers Hill)
• U.S. 13, U.S. 58 and U.S. 460 in Chesapeake, Virginia (at Bowers Hill)

Notes

The eastern terminus of I-64 is not geographically the road's easternmost point. After crossing Hampton Roads and entering Norfolk, the road makes a wide loop toward Virginia Beach and through that city's northwest side. The road then curves toward its final destination on the west side of Chesapeake; by the time it enters Chesapeake, I-64 East actually runs westward to reach its terminus in an area known as Bower's Hill. At Bower's Hill, I-64 east ends. There is joins both the western end of I-264, (which itself is both a bypass and spur of I-64), and the eastern terminus of I-664.

This can of course, be very confusing, which was one of the factors which led to the designation of portions of I-64 (and all of I-664) as the Inner and Outer loops of the Hampton Roads Beltway.

Hampton Roads Beltway Designation

In combination, I-664 and I-64 essentially form a beltway in the Hampton Roads area. In January 1997, the 56-mile-long I-64/I-664 loop was designated and signed as the Hampton Roads Beltway. I-64 makes a huge arc around Norfolk and Portsmouth. The beltway has the clockwise direction (as looking down at a map of the area) signed as the Inner Loop, and the counter-clockwise direction signed as the Outer Loop.

Bridge-Tunnels across Hampton Roads

A major aspect of the Interstate Highway system in the Hampton Roads area are the 2 bridge-tunnels which each cross the harbor of Hampton Roads.

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) is the 3.5-mile-long Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 64. It is comprised of bridge trestles, manmade islands, and tunnels under the main shipping channels for Hampton Roads harbor. It connects the independent cities of Hampton and Norfolk.

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel has two 12-foot-wide lanes each way, on separately built structures. The original two-lane structure replaced a ferry system and opened November 1, 1957 at a cost of $44 million dollars.

The construction of the original Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was funded with toll revenue bonds. The bonds were paid off before the second portion was opened.

The construction of the $95 million second portion of the HRBT was funded as part of the Interstate Highway System as authorized under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, as a portion of I-64, which means that it was funded with 90% FHWA funds from the Highway Trust Fund and 10% state DOT funds.

When the second span was opened to traffic in 1976, the tolls were removed.

The I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel has two manmade tunnel portal islands, at the place where Hampton Roads flows into Chesapeake Bay. The two manmade tunnel portal islands were widened to the west to accommodate the parallel bridge-tunnel project 1972-1976.

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel south portal island actually does connect to some preexisting land, about 20 acres (80,000 m²) of land that is the site of Fort Wool, a fort during the Civil War, World War I and World War II, and a public park since 1970. Fort Wool is on a manmade island known as Rip-Raps, created beginning in 1818, which was pre-existing land when the HRBT south tunnel portal island was built 1954-1957, with a small earthen causeway that connects Fort Wool to the HRBT south portal island.

Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel

Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel (MMMBT) is the 4.6 mile-long Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 664. It is comprised of bridge trestles, manmade islands, and tunnels under the main shipping channels for Hampton Roads harbor. It connects the independent cities of Newport News and Suffolk.

The MMMBT cost $400 million to build, and it includes a four-lane tunnel that is 4,800 feet long, two man-made portal islands, and 3.2 miles of twin trestle. It is named for the two ironclad warships which engaged in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8-9, 1862 during the US Civil War. The battle took place between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The latter ship had been rebuilt from the wreck of the USS Merrimack. The site of the battle was within approximately 1 mile of the current bridge-tunnel's location.

Reference

• 2005 Rand McNally "The Road Atlas 2005" - newest feature- interstate mileage by state

External Links

• Roads to the Future website
• Kurumi's website about 3 digit interstates connecting with I-64
• Interstate Guide I-664 in Virginia]