White Elephant on the Bay

When the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964, it was widely described as an engineering marvel and a surefire tourist attraction. Its 17 1/2 miles of open spans and underwater tunnels connect Virginia's Cape Charles with the Norfolk area, uncorking what had been a major traffic bottleneck between New York and Florida. The 25-minute scenic crossing costs $4 for car and driver, plus 85-c- for each passenger--just pennies more than the old 90-minute ferry fare of $3.85 for car and driver. Yet traffic on the world's longest bridge-tunnel has been only half of what the experts predicted. In 1969, for example, drivers paid $8,100,000 in tolls, less than half of the originally projected revenues. This discrepancy may well cause an embarrassing default on some bond interest payments.

The bridge-tunnel cost $140 million, but to provide a reserve for a rainy day, Virginia's state-run Bridge-Tunnel District raised $200 million in three bond issues. The reserve has been largely exhausted to pay interest during the past six money-losing years. Unless the district can arrange emergency financing, it will have to skip the second half-interest payment of $2,875,000 on $100 million of 5 3/4% C-series bonds next July. In that event, the interest obligation would accumulate but would be paid only if and when funds are available. Venturesome investors can now buy a $1,000 C bond for $310.

Matter of Integrity. Officials of the district cling to the faint hope that Virginia's general assembly will bail out the bridge-tunnel, though the state has no legal obligation to vote financial aid. Such a move would cost the state $5 million a year, initially. There are questions about the propriety of using tax money to pay off the bonds. The matter has caused anxious debate in the assembly, where the argument for support is that the state's reputation for fiscal integrity would be tarnished if Virginia let the bond issue of a political subdivision go into default.

Why is traffic on the bridge-tunnel so far below predictions? One reason is that improvements on the feeder highways to the north and south have fallen behind schedule. Moreover, a competitive inland route, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, was finished ahead of time and has siphoned off much long-distance traffic. The original traffic projections also underestimated the increasing use of air travel.

Traffic rose a heartening 7% during 1969, but officials figure that the bridge-tunnel will not start to break even for another decade. An average of 105,518 cars, trucks and buses a month have been using the span, mostly on weekends. On weekdays, the roadways of the superspan are often deserted--except for clusters of seagulls.

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