The Daily Press of Hampton Roads, Va., reported that large numbers of big trucks, an average of 21 a day, must be turned away from the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on I-64 in Virginia.

Trucks must be stopped in traffic and turned around, creating traffic jams, generating fender-benders and increasing the miles those drivers must cover.
The 3.5-mile-long Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is named for the body of water it crosses connecting Norfolk and Hampton, Va. According to the Virginia DOT, the westbound tube was built in 1957 with 13 feet, 10 inches of overhead. According to the Daily Press article, trucks over 13 feet, 6 inches are prohibited. The eastbound tube was built in 1976 with a clearance of 16 feet, 6 inches.
Sensors along the interstate set off alarms in the bridge-tunnel control room, alerting officers to oncoming trucks that must be stopped and re-routed. VDOT claims that the 7,158 oversized trucks stopped this year are easily the largest cause of backups at the facility. During the same timeframe, the agency reports there were 974 instances of stalled vehicles, 422 flat tires, 252 out-of-fuel incidents and 172 accidents.
The problem has increased with the traffic over the last ten years and frequently involves out-of-state drivers with loads for major retailers.
While authorities at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel turned around 7,143 westbound trucks this year, the 2003 number 7,805. In 2002, it was 8,246. The numbers remain high, some critics claim, because truckers are rarely ticketed, so there is little deterrent. Now, according to the Daily Press, the Virginia State Police in cooperation with VDOT will begin ticketing trucks who approach the facility after passing warning signs.
Apparently, the warning devices don’t catch every oversized truck. The Daily Press reported that in January, 1998, an over-height truck drove through the tunnel demolishing a freshly installed ceiling.
“That trucker was never stopped, and taxpayers had to pick up the nearly $730,000 tab,” the paper said.