Trivia Tuesday, May 5

Last week's answer

Question: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel stretches 17.6 miles across the mouth of the bay. While most of the crossing is a traditional trestle bridge, the roadway "dives" underwater into two separate tunnels. What was the primary engineering reason for using tunnels in the middle of the bay instead of simply building high-clearance bridges the whole way?

Answer: To allow the U.S. Navy’s massive aircraft carriers and ships to pass through without the risk of a bridge collapse blocking the channel.

The U.S. Navy relies heavily on the depth of the Thimble Shoal Channel to transport its warships to the Atlantic Ocean, and opposed the construction of a bridge over the channel. If a bridge were to collapse, it would significantly impede Navy operations on the East Coast. Navy ships would be bottlednecked inside the Chesapeake Bay and block ships already in the Atlantic Ocean from reaching the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. 

Sources: Virginia Places