![]() ![]() The guard railings at the HRBT and Monitor-Merrimac are designed to keep even tractor-trailers on the bridge, though that’s not guaranteed at all speeds and angles. That system isn’t nearly as strong as the concrete jersey barriers at the Hampton Roads and the Monitor-Merrimac bridge-tunnels. The bridge-tunnel’s railings, designed in the 1950s, are made to withstand glancing blows from cars or pickups going 62 mph or less. The hollow tubes are supported by aluminum posts every eight feet that are bolted to a concrete curb. They consist of a series of three aluminum pipe rails alongside the roadway. When it opened in 1964, the bridge-tunnel - nearly 18 miles long - was one of the “Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World.”īut that recognition wasn’t for the guardrails. With not much space on either side of the two-lane roadways, they can’t veer too far to either side, lest they end up in the water. What’s also clear is that there’s very little margin for error for 18-wheelers using the bridge-tunnel, which crosses between Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore. ![]() Though Scott, 36, wasn’t speeding - and hit the guardrails only at an angle - there was nothing the aluminum barriers could do to keep his rig on the bridge. ![]()
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