Engineering

Whenever we drive through the Hampton
Roads Bridge Tunnels I get the sensation

of zooming nose-down, vertically, into
a well as batons of light flicker on either

side. The illusion is optical, but one I don't
think others necessarily share. Less than 4

miles long and 108 feet below sea level at their
lowest point, these tunnels were laid in trenches 

dredged at the bottom of the harbor. If the walls
were made of some kind of clear plexiglass, we might 

see needlefish and sturgeon, shad and lamprey 
weaving through filaments of the estuary. From 

above, as the gulls fly, our bodies disappear
into the water and emerge at the other end.