14.3 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the Roanoke Airport Tunnel, and Planning a Virginia Route

14.3 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the Roanoke Airport Tunnel, and Planning a Virginia Route

Two Virginia crossings sit outside 24VAC30-61 entirely, and both have caught drivers who assumed the state tunnel rules were the whole picture.

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The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (U.S. Route 13)

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) carries U.S. Route 13 across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay between Virginia Beach and Virginia's Eastern Shore. It is not one of the six state-owned facilities in 24VAC30-61. It operates under its own commission and its own published hazmat and compressed gas regulations, and VDOT's hazardous materials page directs drivers to the CBBT for its rules rather than answering for it.

Prohibited on the CBBT

The CBBT prohibits the same high-consequence categories as the urban state tunnels:

• Class 1 explosives, Divisions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3
• Class 2, Division 2.3 poisonous gas
• Class 4, Division 4.3 dangerous when wet materials
• Class 6, Division 6.1 poisonous materials, if an inhalation hazard exists

Allowed on the CBBT — With Hard Quantity Caps

Everything else that is allowed is allowed only up to a stated quantity, and the caps are strikingly small compared with a normal commercial load:

Non-Commercial Propane (Pickups, RVs, Work Trucks)

For vehicles that are not commercial hazmat shipments, the CBBT allows not more than two non-permanently mounted containers with a maximum individual capacity of 105 pounds water capacity or 45 pounds LP-Gas each, or one container with a maximum capacity of 60 pounds LP-Gas.

All vehicles carrying propane must have their tanks shut off at the valves.

Inspection Authority

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel District employees have the right to inspect the cargo or shipping papers of any vehicle to determine whether it complies with all state and federal regulations relating to the transportation of hazardous materials, and the inspection may take place at any point where or after the vehicle enters District property or its approaches.

A vehicle loaded with any hazardous material — or a tank vehicle that last contained one — may not be allowed onto the CBBT District unless it conforms to those regulations. Expect to be stopped, be ready to hand over shipping papers, and confirm the current rules with the CBBT before you plan a load across it; the commission publishes and updates its own regulations independently of the state.

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The Roanoke Airport Tunnel (Route 118)

VDOT's hazardous materials page names one more restriction that has nothing to do with Hampton Roads: the Airport Tunnel in the city of Roanoke (Route 118) is restricted to all hazardous materials. It is a short urban tunnel far from any bridge-tunnel complex, and a driver running a placarded load through Roanoke needs to know it exists. Unlike the I-77 mountain tunnels, this one is a flat prohibition.

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Putting a Virginia Route Together

Virginia does not publish a statewide beltway mandate that forces every hazmat load onto a particular interstate. What actually governs your route is the stack covered in Section 9.5, applied to Virginia's geography:

1. Check for a routing designation first. A motor carrier transporting non-radioactive hazardous materials must comply with any state routing designation (49 CFR 397.67(a)). Virginia's entries in FMCSA's National Hazardous Materials Route Registry are its facility restrictions — the bridge-tunnel rules in this chapter — rather than a general "use this highway" instruction.
2. Apply the federal routing duty. Where no designation applies, 49 CFR 397.67(b) still requires operating over routes that do not go through or near heavily populated areas, places where crowds are assembled, tunnels, narrow streets, or alleys, unless there is no practicable alternative, a reasonable deviation is needed for terminals, loading, food, fuel, repairs, rest, or a safe haven, or emergency conditions require it. Operating convenience is not a justification.
3. Check local permits. Some localities require permits or limit routes, and those rules change often. It is the driver's job to find out before starting.
4. Then check the facility. Only after the route is chosen does the facility question arise: is the crossing one of the four urban tunnels, one of the two rural tunnels, the CBBT, or the Roanoke Airport Tunnel?

Worked Example: Chlorine from Richmond to a Norfolk Water Plant

Roadside Case Study: A driver is hauling cylinders of UN1017, Chlorine, 2.3, Poison Inhalation Hazard from Richmond to a municipal water treatment plant in Norfolk. The GPS routes I-64 East straight through the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

Step 1 — Facility check. Division 2.3 Poison Gas is on the prohibited list in 24VAC30-61-40. The HRBT is out. Step 2 — Alternate harbor crossing? The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel on I-664 is also an urban facility under the same table. Division 2.3 is prohibited there too. Both underwater crossings are out. Step 3 — CBBT? The CBBT also prohibits Division 2.3, and it does not connect Richmond to Norfolk in any case. Step 4 — Route around. The load must reach Norfolk without an underwater tunnel, using open bridge crossings and surface routes, and while still complying with 49 CFR 397.67(b) by keeping clear of heavily populated areas and crowds where a practicable alternative exists. Step 5 — Confirm before rolling. Because local permit and route rules change often, the driver confirms the planned route with dispatch and, where the route touches a restricted facility, with the facility itself.

The lesson: prohibited means prohibited at every urban facility, and there is no "take the other tunnel" answer for a Table 1-style material in Hampton Roads.

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Common Exam Traps & Pitfalls

• Trap: Applying 24VAC30-61 to the CBBT.
  • The Legal Reality: The CBBT is not one of the six state-owned facilities. It has its own commission and its own regulations, including hard quantity caps that the state tunnel rules do not impose.
• Trap: Assuming an E-ZPass transponder means you never stop.
  • The Legal Reality: CBBT District employees may inspect the cargo or shipping papers of any vehicle at any point on District property or its approaches, and a hazmat vehicle that does not conform to the regulations may be refused.
• Trap: Forgetting the Roanoke Airport Tunnel.
  • The Legal Reality: Route 118's Airport Tunnel in Roanoke is restricted to all hazardous materials — a Virginia restriction with nothing to do with Hampton Roads.
• Trap: Believing a specific interstate is the mandated hazmat route.
  • The Legal Reality: Virginia's registry entries are facility restrictions. Absent a designation, the governing duty is the general 49 CFR 397.67(b) obligation to avoid populated areas, crowds, tunnels, narrow streets, and alleys.