DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997              TAG: 9704170352

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

BRIDGE ENDS MARCH TO MIDDLE GROUND

Rows of concrete pilings march into the Chesapeake Bay from the shores of Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore, like soldiers on opposing sides.

In the next two years, they will meet in the middle. As a result, head-to-head conflict among 7,500 vehicles a day will be all but eliminated on the two-lane bridges of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

About four months ahead of schedule now, construction of a parallel span to the 23-mile structure will improve its safety and capacity. Traffic is increasing about 3 percent a year.

The new, two-lane structure will carry motorists south. The existing structure will take motorists north. New tunnels are not included in the project, so two-way traffic will continue in the 2-mile-long tunnels.

The contractor had planned to finish in mid-1998, but a slow start and wintry weather conditions have tempered PCL/Hardaway/Interbeton's ambitions.

With two winters that are expected to slow construction ahead, the $200 million project likely will be completed right on time, in July 1999, said Kent Russell, resident engineer for Sverdrup Corp., project construction managers.

About 40 percent of the work has been completed, said James K. Brookshire Jr., executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District.

``We are in good shape for the summer,'' Brookshire said. ``We have a lot of modular units and piles waiting to be driven. The water will be calmer than it's been this winter.''

By the end of the year, all of the piles for the new structure will have been driven. While it will take several more months before the road is in place, motorists will be able to detect the route of the new span by connecting the dots between the pilings.

The new span will be opened in phases, so the existing one can be refurbished.

The first phase, from the toll plaza on the Eastern Shore to mid-way through Fishermans Island is scheduled to open June 10.

The section from Fishermans Island to the northern tunnel will open in early 1998. The stretch from Virginia Beach to the southern tunnel will open next spring. Finally, the section between the two tunnels will open in the summer of 1998.

Rehabilitation of the original structure, built in 1964, will continue through mid-1999.

The second bridge project will not cause an increase in the bridge-tunnel's $10 toll. It is being paid for by a combination of cash reserves and a bond issue to be repaid from future toll revenues.

One unexpected complication of construction has been boat traffic. Fishing boats, usually small vessels, sometimes motor too close to the pile drivers and their anchor lines.

``We have to wave them out of there,'' Russell said. ``It gets worse when the rockfish are running.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Near Fishermans Island, work on the new span, left, of the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is progressing. The segment from the

island to the northern tunnel will be the first part of the new

bridge to open, hopefully early next year.

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