Description of The Current Bridge
At the Newport News end, traffic approaches the bridge at a six-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange, where Mercury Boulevard (carrying U.S. Route 17, U.S. Route 258, and State Route 32 onto the bridge) passes over Warwick Boulevard (U.S. Route 60). After an intersection with River Road and the entrance to Huntington Park, the four-lane divided bridge begins, lying to the southeast of the part of the old bridge that remains as a fishing pier. The 126.5 m (415.0 ft) lift span over the shipping channel, with a clearance of 44.1 m (145 ft) when raised and 18.2 m (59.7 ft) when lowered, is about 1/4 of the way along the 7.0714 km (4.3940 mi) bridge. This allows ocean-going ships to pass en route to civilian port facilities in Hopewell and at the Port of Richmond.
The roadway becomes Carrollton Boulevard on the Isle of Wight County end; after a number of intersections, US 258 and SR 32 turn west at Bartlett towards State Route 10 at Benns Church, while US 17 curves southeast towards Portsmouth.
The nearest upstream crossing of the James River is the Jamestown Ferry (State Route 31); the next fixed crossing is the 1966 Benjamin Harrison Bridge (State Route 156) at Hopewell. When the bridge opened in 1928, the next bridge upstream was the 1913 Mayo Bridge in Richmond.
Downstream, both crossings of Hampton Roads are bridge-tunnels for military reasons: the 1992 Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel (Interstate 664) and 1957 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (Interstate 64/U.S. Route 60).
Bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians are banned from using the bridge; the easternmost crossing for them is the Jamestown Ferry, about 25 miles (40 km) upstream. The State Highway and Transportation Commission banned these transportation modes from using the bridge in 1978 "in the interest of safety", due to high traffic and lack of sidewalks. Once the replacement bridge was completed, they returned to the question in 1983, and decided to continue the ban, since the new bridge also had no sidewalks or sufficient recovery area.
Read more about this topic: James River Bridge
Famous quotes containing the words description of the, description of, description, current and/or bridge:
“Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)
“The first opinion that occurs to us when we are suddenly asked about something is usually not our own but only the current one pertaining to our class, position, or parentage; our own opinions seldom swim on the surface.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I see four nuns
who sit like a bridge club,
their faces poked out
from under their habits,”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)