Tunnel of Love (not)…

Those of us who spent anytime in Hampton Roads became intimately familiar with the “joys” of two significant landmarks – the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and the more recent cousin, the Monitor-Merrimac  Memorial Bridge Tunnel.  The HRBT, as it is called in polite company, is the link from Norfolk to the Peninsula, unless, of course, you opt for a much wider trip out of your way to use the James River bridge or MMBT.

Which, when, not if, things went south (literally) on the HRBT, you had no choice but to punt and use one of those alternates.

Still, even at the height of summer, with the scaredy-cat turistas flocking south for to burn to a crisp at VaBeach or the Outer Banks, for all the hi-jinks they and the occasional native displayed (like 100+ mph on the bridge part, in a Porsche, ahem…) nothing approached the level of this – the longest in city tunnel in Europe, found in Russia.  There is a river running over it, and water leaks at various points. When the temperature reaches minus-38 degrees like it did this particular winter, the road freezes, and the result is what you see in the  video below. This video was taken during A SINGLE DAY with the tunnel camera:

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Special kudos for the bus driver’s save…