The Indian River
Tunnel Authority connecting Melbourne/Palm Bay to
Indialantic!
With
the rapid rise in population both on the island
and in the general Melbourne area, a new source
of handling the heavy volume of traffic was
required. Proposed alternatives included building
another bridge but studies showed that (as in the
192 bridge in Melbourne Center), traffic
congestion would still be a problem. The second
proposal was to build an underground tunnel
linking the mainland to the island.
Surveys
were performed to see if this was economically
sound, population impact, road usage, traffic
considerations and how it would affect traffic
both on routes A1A and 1.
In
1996, construction started on the west side of
the Indian River. Leasing a tunnel boring machine
from US Tunnel Machines, Inc., boring started in
May of 1996. Breakthru was completed in July of
1997 with final tunnel completion on February,
1998.
The
Indian River Tunnel was officially opened on 1
April, 1997.
The
Indian River Tunnel is a 4 lane, east-west tunnel
connecting the Melbourne-Palm Bay metropolitan
side of the river, to Indialantic, on the east
side of the river.
The
Indian River Tunnel is a 4 lane, east-west tunnel
connecting the Melbourne-Palm Bay metropolitan
side of the river, to Indialantic, on the east
side of the river.
Tunnel
Data:
Length
- 1.4 miles
Interior
Height - 20' 7.5"
Width at ground
level - 59' 3"
Lanes-
4: 2 running east, 2 running west
Maximum
vehicle weight - 45 tons
Minimum
Vehicle Speed - 55 Miles Per Hour
Maximum
Vehicle Speed - 75 Miles Per Hour
Average
time to enter one side and exit the other - 1.3
minutes***
Ventilation
- powered by 4 300 HP blowers Exit
Access
- direct acces to both routes A1A (on the
Indialantic side) and US 1 on the Melbourne side.
Tunnel
Tolls:
4-6
wheel vehicles - cars, trucks, vans, RV's - $.25
cents each way
8 -
18 wheel vehicles - $.50 each way
Passes
are available online at Indian River
Tunnel Pass.
DISCLAIMER:
This is a fictional tunnel. This website was
created to make people wonder where the tunnel is
(hopefully
humorous when they find out), and to
gain exposure for the
South
Brevard Business Directory. All
data, fees, everything stated is purely fiction.
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