Hampton Roads Beltway

The Hampton Roads Beltway is a loop of Interstate 64 and Interstate 664, which links the communities of the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads which surround the body of water known as Hampton Roads and comprise much of the region of the same name in the southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States.

The Hampton Roads Beltway crosses the harbor of Hampton Roads at two locations on large four-laned bridge-tunnel facilities. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel carries Interstate 64 (and U.S. Route 60) and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel carries Interstate 664. The entire beltway, including the bridge-tunnels, is owned and operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

History

Even before Interstate 64 was built beginning in 1958, from some of the earliest planning stages, there were hopes of a circumferential highway to Interstate highway standards for the Hampton Roads region. Some proposals envisioned state and local and/or toll funding if necessary to achieve that goal.

Indeed, the first two-laned portion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was built with toll revenue bond funding in 1957 prior to the creation of I-64. It carried U.S. Route 60 and State Route 168 designations, and tied in with the new Tidewater Drive in Norfolk. (Tolls were removed when the other two lanes and tunnel were built adjacently to the immediate south of the older structure with federal Interstate Highway funding in the mid 1970s.)

Building of Interstate 64 was the first priority in the region, and a portion of Interstate 264 through Portsmouth connecting with the Downtown Tunnel was completed even as I-64 finally reached its eastern terminus at Bower's Hill in Norfolk County (which became the City of Chesapeake in 1963).

I-64, the portion of the Hampton Roads Beltway which was completed first, makes a huge 35-mile (56 km) long arc around the area, from Hampton through portions of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake and around Portsmouth to reach Bower's Hill at the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp.

It was a number of years before the newer I-664 portion was built. The 21-mile (34 km) roadway connects with I-64 at Bower's Hill in Chesapeake and crosses through portions of Portsmouth and Suffolk to cross Hampton Roads via the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and then pass through eastern Newport News to reconnect with I-64 in Hampton. This completed the loop in 1992.

In January, 1997, a 56-mile (90 km)-long I-64/I-664 loop was designated by the Virginia Department of Transportation (and signed) as the Hampton Roads Beltway.

Loop designations

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. Essentially, I-64 forms the eastern portion and I-664 the western portion of the beltway.

Future

There are indications that a fourth highway crossing of Hampton Roads might be essential to avoid traffic gridlock in the near future. Already, miles-long backups are common on the approaches to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

As of January 2007, recent studies and proposed legislation in the Virginia General Assembly supported by many local members in both the State Senate and the House of Delegates may require that tolls on existing facilities (which are currently toll-free) be collected in the future to help pay for the enormous costs associated with a future so-called "third crossing" (in actuality, the fourth) and other regional transportation needs.

Under legislation from the 2007 session, the General Assembly empowered the creation of a special authority as a political subdivision of the state, upon concurrence of seven of the 12 counties and cities within the designated area, the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. HRTA was created in July, 2007, with powers to raise revenue through a variety of specific local taxes and user fees, such as tolls.

This Transportation Authority met strong resistance from voters and many in the General Assembly. By 2008, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the Transportation Authorities created by the Assembly (there was one created for Northern Virginia as well) were unconstitutional because Virginia's Constitution only permits the General Assembly to impose taxes. With that ruling, the Transportation Authorities were deemed moot and powerless, and legislation was passed in 2008 to de-establish them. They never imposed any taxes or collected any money for transportation.

Route description

I-664 begins at a full Y interchange with I-64 and I-264 that serves as the terminus of all three Interstates in the Bowers Hill section of the city of Chesapeake. I-64 heads southeast as a continuation of the Hampton Roads Beltway through Chesapeake while I-264 heads east toward Portsmouth and Norfolk. I-664 heads west as an eight-lane freeway that has a southbound-only exit ramp to US 13 and US 460 (Military Highway) and crosses over Military Highway and a Norfolk Southern Railway rail line. The Interstate has a cloverleaf interchange with Military Highway, which here carries US 58 in addition to US 13 and US 460. The interchange also provides access to US 460 Alternate, which follows US 58 east into Portsmouth. I-664 curves north as a four-lane freeway that crosses Goose Creek and has a diamond interchange with SR 663 (Dock Landing Road) and a cloverleaf interchange with SR 337 (Portsmouth Boulevard).^[1]^[2]

Just south of its partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 659 (Pughsville Road), I-664 crosses a rail line; a spur from that rail line heads north in the median of the freeway as the highway enters the city of Suffolk. The rail spur leaves the median and heads northeast toward Portsmouth just south of its interchange with SR 164 (Western Freeway) and US 17 (Bridge Road). SR 164 heads east toward downtown Portsmouth while US 17 heads northwest to the James River Bridge. There is no access from southbound I-664 to southbound US 17; that movement is made via the next interchange, a cloverleaf interchange with SR 135 (College Drive) that serves satellite campuses of Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University and the community of Churchland.^[1]^[2]

North of SR 135, northbound I-664 has a vehicle inspection station and crossovers before the highway enters the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel. The bridge-tunnel passes to the west of Craney Island, an artificial island in the city of Portsmouth that lies to the west of the mouth of the Elizabeth River. West of the highway is the confluence of the James River and Nansemond River to form Hampton Roads, as well as the James River Bridge a short distance to the north on the namesake river. I-664 heads north-northeast along a causeway for 3 miles (4.8 km) to a point west of the Newport News Middle Ground Light, where the pair of bridges curve to the north-northwest onto an artificial island where the highway descends into a pair of tunnels under the estuary's main shipping channel. The Interstate resurfaces on another artificial island at Newport News Point east of the coal piers in the city of Newport News.^[1]^[2]

I-664 has a southbound vehicle inspection station adjacent to its first interchange in Newport News, with Terminal Avenue. The Interstate parallels the southern end of CSX's Peninsula Subdivision as it passes through interchanges with several streets to the east of downtown Newport News. The southern interchange has ramps to and from 25th, 26th, and 27th streets; the first two streets carry eastbound and westbound US 60, which is unmarked from I-664. The northern interchange has ramps to and from 35th Street and Jefferson Street; Jefferson Street is SR 143, which is also unmarked from the Interstate. I-664 curves east as a six-lane freeway away from the railroad and has an oblique crossing of SR 351 (39th Street) prior to half-diamond interchanges with Roanoke Avenue and Chestnut Street. The Interstate enters the city of Hampton and has diamond interchanges with Aberdeen Road and Powhatan Parkway before reaching its northern terminus at I-64. I-664 meets its parent highway at a directional T interchange above Newmarket Creek just south of Hampton Coliseum. The Hampton Roads Beltway continues east along I-64 through Hampton before crossing Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel into the city of Norfolk.^[1]^[2]

Exit list

The entire route is in the independent cities of Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Newport News.

City	Mile ^[1]	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Hampton	0.00	264	I-64 west – Williamsburg, Richmond	Northern terminus of I-664; I-664 Exit 1; Hampton Roads Beltway continues on I-664 south
		265	La Salle Avenue south / Rip Rap Road	Split into exits 265A (La Salle) and 265C (Rip Rap Road) on inner loop
		265	SR 134 (Armistead Avenue)	Split into exits 265A (east) and 265B (west) on outer loop
		267	US 60 west / SR 143 (Settlers Landing Road)	West end of concurrency with US 60
		268	SR 169 east (Mallory Street) – Fort Monroe
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel – Hampton Roads
Norfolk		272	West Ocean View Avenue – Willoughby Spit
		273	US 60 east (4th View Street) – Ocean View	East end of concurrency with US 60
		274	Bay Avenue – Naval Station	Outer loop exit and inner loop entrance
		276	I-564 west (Admiral Taussig Boulevard) / US 460 (Granby Street) – Naval Base	Split into exits 276A (I-564) and 276B (US 460 east) on outer loop
		276C	SR 165 (Little Creek Road) to US 460 west	Outer loop exit and inner loop entrance
		277	SR 168 (Tidewater Drive)	Split into exits 277A (south) and 277B (north)
		278	SR 194 (Chesapake Boulevard)
		279A	Norview Avenue west	Outer loop exit and inner loop exit
		279B	Norview Avenue east	Signed as exit 279 on inner loop
		281	SR 165 (Military Highway)	Signed as exits 281A (north) and 281B (south) on inner loop
		282	US 13 (Northampton Boulevard)
		284A	I-264 west – Downtown Norfolk
		284B	I-264 east – Portsmouth, Virginia Beach	Inner loop exit is via exit 284A
		284B	Newtown Road	Outer loop exit is via I-264 east
		286	Indian River Rd	Signed as exits 286A (west) and 286B (east)
		289	Greenbrier Parkway	Signed as exits 289A (south) and 289B (north)
		290	SR 168 north / SR 168 Bus. south (Battlefield Boulevard)	Signed as exits 290A (north) and 290B (south); outer end of VA 168 overlap
		291	I-464 north / US 17 south / SR 168 south	Signed as exits 291A (north) and 291B (south); inner end of VA 168 overlap; outer end of US 17 overlap
		292	SR 190 west – Elizabeth City	Westbound exit only
		296	US 17 north / US 17 Bus. south	Signed as exits 296A (north) and 296B (south) on inner loop
		297	US 13 (Military Highway) / US 460
Chesapeake	0.00	299 15	I-264 east – Portsmouth, Norfolk	Southern terminus of I-664; eastern terminus of I-64; split into exits 299A (I-264) and 299B (I-664) on inner loop; split into exits 15A (I-264) and 15B (I-64) on outer loop; western terminus of I-264 (Exit 1)
		14	US 13 (Military Highway) / US 460	Southbound exit only
	1.21	13	US 13 / US 460 (Military Highway) / US 58 / US 460 Alt. – Suffolk, Bowers Hill	Split into exits 13A (Suffolk) and 13B (Military Highway)
	2.69	12	SR 663 (Dock Landing Road)
	3.72	11	SR 337 (Portsmouth Boulevard)	Split into exits 11A (west) and 11B (east)
	5.82	10	SR 659 (Pughsville Road)
Suffolk	7.41	9	SR 164 east (Western Freeway) / US 17 (Bridge Road) – Portsmouth, James River Bridge	Split into exits 9A (James River Bridge) and 9B (Portsmouth) northbound; no access to southbound US 17 from southbound I-664
Suffolk	8.45	8	SR 135 (College Drive) to US 17 south – Churchland	Split into exits 8A (north) and 8B (south)
Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel – Hampton Roads
Newport News	14.84	7	Terminal Avenue
		6	25th Street / 26th Street	Unsigned US 60; northbound exit, southbound entrance
		6	26th Street / 27th Street	26th Street is westbound unsigned US 60; southbound exit, northbound entrance
	16.25	5	35th Street / Jefferson Avenue	Access to Jefferson Avenue (unsigned SR 143) from northbound exit only
	17.03	4	Roanoke Avenue	Northbound exit, southbound entrance
	17.41	4	Chestnut Street	Southbound exit, northbound entrance
Hampton	17.86	3	Aberdeen Road
	19.13	2	Powhatan Parkway / Power Plant Parkway
	20.79	1	I-64 west – Williamsburg, Richmond	Northern terminus of I-664; split into exits 1A (I-64 west) and 1B (I-64 east) on inner loop; I-64 Exit 264; Hampton Roads Beltway continues on I-64 east
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi