Interstate 264 (Virginia)

Interstate 264 (Virginia)

Interstate 264 (abbreviated I-264) is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. It runs from a junction with Interstate 64 and Interstate 664 (Hampton Roads Beltway) near Bowers Hill in Chesapeake east into Portsmouth and through the Downtown Tunnel under the South Branch of the Elizabeth River into Norfolk. At the Interstate 464 interchange in the Berkley section of Norfolk, I-264 turns north, crossing the East Branch into downtown Norfolk on the Berkley Bridge, one of a small number of drawbridges on the Interstate Highway System. I-264 then heads east through Norfolk, crossing Interstate 64 at the east side of the Hampton Roads Beltway, and into Virginia Beach, where it ends at Parks Avenue just short of the Atlantic Ocean. From this point, 21st and 22nd streets continue as a one-way pair with no route designation to U.S. Route 60 (Pacific Avenue).

The original section of I-264, designated in the late 1950s, lies between the two I-64 junctions. The piece east to the Virginia Beach waterfront was built as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway (a toll road until 1995), and carried State Route 44 until I-264 was extended over it in 1999.

When I-64 was augmented in the 1990s with reversible HOV lanes, I-264 towards Virginia Beach (then SR 44) was designated as the eastern terminus of the reversible lanes and one of the few direct exits from/entrances to the HOV lanes.

I-264 is a part of the National Highway System for its entire length.