1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Interstate 64 in Virginia
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In the U. S. state of Virginia, Interstate 64 runs east–west through the middle of the state from West Virginia to the Hampton Roads region, a total of 298 miles. It is notable for crossing the mouth of the harbor of Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, I-64 enters Virginia as a four-lane divided highway, continuing its concurrency with U. S.60 through Covington into Lexington where the two routes split. From Lexington, I-64 then turns northward to Staunton overlapping Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah Valley. S, after Charlottesville, I-64 then turns more east-southeasterly and heads towards Richmond, passing through Fluvanna, Goochland and Louisa Counties. Hurricane gates are installed at eastbound Interstate 64 entrance and exit ramps from Exit 200 to Exit 273, to date, there has never been an activation of the contraflow system in any capacity. Once on the Southside, I-64 turns south through Norfolk, passing the eastern boundary of Naval Station Norfolk and Chambers Field, and the spur route supplying it, Interstate 564. It then becomes a six lane divided highway with a two lane roadway in the middle, which is used for HOV-traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours. After entering Chesapeake, I-64 actually turns west-southwesterly and it is actually at this point when the road stops being signed as either east or west and is only signed with its Beltway designation of Inner or Outer Loop. After interchanging with another of its routes, Interstate 464, I-64 then crosses the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River using the High Rise Bridge. Early studies and proposals of the Interregional Highway System, I-64 was to use the U. S. Route 250 alignment west of Richmond and this southern route was favored by Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr. and most members of the State Highway Commission. The decision was on hold for three years while the state continued planning for the piece of the US250 alignment from Richmond to Short Pump, which would be needed anyway to handle traffic. In 1961, U. S. Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges rejected that plan and chose the present route, officially, the chosen route was considered more efficient. However, there is speculation that the decision involved back-room politics of the Kennedy administration, Interstate 64 has four auxiliary routes, all of which are in the Hampton Roads Area, Interstate 664, a bypass route serving Chesapeake, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton. Interstate 564, a route serving Naval Station Norfolk. Interstate 264, a route serving the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Downtown Norfolk. Interstate 464, a route serving the western side of Chesapeake, Portsmouth. It connects I-64 in Chesapeake to I-264 in Norfolk, two segments on I-64 have been identified as candidates for widening, I-64 on the Virginia Peninsula from New Kent County to Newport News and I-64 in South Hampton Roads from the I-464/SR 168/U. S. 17 interchange in Chesapeake to the Bowers Hill Interchange in Suffolk, on the Peninsula, most of the I-64 corridor is a four lane roadway and is one of the most-traveled segments in the region, connecting the Hampton Roads Metro to the Greater Richmond region. The approved plan selected by VDOT and partners included the plan that added a general purpose lane in each direction by either expanding into the median or on the outside shoulder
3.
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia
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In contrast, through this section, the older US60 is mostly a rural two-lane road. There it curves south to run along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline to end near the end of the Virginia Beach resort strip. In Virginia, as a through-route, U. S.60 was largely replaced by Interstate 64, the latter is roughly parallel, although there is a separation of over 30 miles north and south between Lexington and Richmond. In South Hampton Roads, the roads also separate, I-64 became part of the circumferential Hampton Roads Beltway and looping far south and west of Norfolk, rather than reaching the Atlantic Ocean. At Lexington, the newer Interstate route swings north, concurrent with I-81 to Staunton where it turns east. The variation between the routes was due to terrain for the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains. U. S.60 crosses at Whites Gap, I-64 uses Rockfish Gap, East of the Blue Ridge, the two pathways gradually converge, meeting again at Richmond. It was notorious for deadly crashes in the years before I-64 was completed, the newer I-64 uses Rockfish Gap, a lower elevation wind gap which was also selected for a vital railroad crossing by Virginias legendary 19th century state engineer, Claudius Crozet. East of the mountain, I-64 passes Charlottesville and has easy grades on its way to Richmond, from Lexington, US60 runs easterly across the Blue Ridge Mountains. The switchbacks and grades along the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains still used by U. S.60 combine to form a very hilly, the 30 miles east of Lexington become virtually impassable by most vehicles during inclement weather, particularly snow and ice. A short distance east of Interstate 81, as it passes through Buena Vista, even leaving the city limits. The roadway has many switchbacks and on both the eastern and western slopes, with Whites Gap at the peak, after descending on the eastern side, travelers reach Amherst, where Route 60 intersects north–south U. S. Route 29. Continuing east, there is a shorter section of mountainous terrain before the road levels out somewhat into the rolling Piedmont region through the middle belt of the state. At Sprouses Corner in Buckingham County, north–south U. S. Route 15 is crossed and this is the last major intersection until reaching the outskirts of Richmond. The road is two lanes for most of its journey eastward from Lexington, but widens to four lanes in Powhatan Virginia, crossing into Chesterfield County, it intersects State Route 288, a semi-circumferential expressway around the southwestern quadrant of Metropolitan Richmond and becoming Midlothian Turnpike. East of VA-288, Route 60 continues a few miles into the community of Midlothian, U. S.60 in the Richmond area enters on Midlothian Turnpike. The road largely follows the path of the old Manchester Turnpike, nearby, remnants of the Chesterfield Railroad, first in Virginia can be seen just south of the current highway. Midlothian was the site of coal mines after about 1700, with product transported overland to Manchester which was Richmonds sister city south of the river, at Manchester, ships could dock in the navigable waters of the James River just east of the fall line
4.
Hampton Roads
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Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan region in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, United States. The body of known as Hampton Roads is one of the worlds largest natural harbors. It incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River, Nansemond River, the land area includes a collection of cities, counties and towns on the Virginia Peninsula and in South Hampton Roads. Some of the areas further from the harbor may or may not be included as part of Hampton Roads. The Combined Statistical Area includes four counties in North Carolina, pushing the regional population to over 1.8 million residents. The area is steeped in 400 years of American history, with hundreds of historical sites, the harbor was the key to Hampton Roads growth, both on land and in water-related activities and events. While the harbor and its tributaries were important transportation conduits, at the time they presented obstacles to land-based commerce. Creating and maintaining adequate infrastructure has long been a major challenge, the term Hampton Roads is a centuries-old designation that originated when the region was a struggling English outpost nearly four hundred years ago. The origin of the two words is noteworthy, the word Hampton honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a great supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. The early administrative center of the new colony was known as Elizabeth Cittie, named for Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, the town at the center of Elizabeth Cittie became known as Hampton, and a nearby waterway was designated Hampton Creek. Other references to the Earl include the area to the north across the bay became known as Northampton. As with Hampton, both of these remain in use today. The term Roads indicates the safety of a port, as applied to a body of water, examples of other roadsteads are Castle Roads, in another of the Virginia Companys settlements, Bermuda, and Lahaina Roads, in Hawaii. In 1755, the Virginia General Assembly recorded the name Hampton Roads as the channel linking the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond rivers with the Chesapeake Bay. Hampton Roads has become known as the worlds largest natural harbor, the U. S. Postal Service changed the areas postmark from Tidewater Virginia to Hampton Roads, Virginia beginning in 1983. While the borders of what locals call Hampton Roads may not perfectly align with the definition of the MSA, Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC MSA is a U. S. According to the 2010 Census, its population is 1,676,822, since a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in Virginia are independent cities and they are not legally located in a county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalents for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia, each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, in alphabetical order and not by size
5.
Norfolk, Virginia
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Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803, in 2015, Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the city is bordered to the west by the Elizabeth River and to the north by the Chesapeake Bay. It also shares borders with the independent cities of Chesapeake to its south. Norfolk is one of the oldest cities in Hampton Roads, and is considered to be the historic, urban, financial, the city has a long history as a strategic military and transportation point. The largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk along with one of NATOs two Strategic Command headquarters. As the city is bordered by multiple bodies of water, Norfolk has many miles of riverfront and bayfront property, including beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. It is linked to its neighbors by a network of Interstate highways, bridges, tunnels. In 1619, the Governor of the Virginia Colony, Sir George Yeardley incorporated four jurisdictions, termed citties and these formed the basis for colonial representative government in the newly minted House of Burgesses. What would become Norfolk was put under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation, in 1634 King Charles I reorganized the colony into a system of shires. The former Elizabeth Cittie became Elizabeth City Shire, after persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, Adam Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the Lynnhaven River in 1636. When the South Hampton Roads portion of the shire was separated, one year later, it was split into two counties, Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk, chiefly on Thoroughgoods recommendation. This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, the House of Burgesses established the Towne of Lower Norfolk County in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County, in 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia and it was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, after fleeing the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels and his departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. On New Years Day,1776, Lord Dunmores fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours, the damage from the shells and fires started by the British and spread by the patriots destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city
6.
Hampton, Virginia
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Hampton is an independent city in Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 137,436, as one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Since consolidation in 1952, Hampton has included the former Elizabeth City County, in the 20th century, the area became the location of Langley Air Force Base, NASA Langley Research Center, and the Virginia Air and Space Center. Hampton features many miles of waterfront and beaches, for residents and visitors alike, the city features a wide array of business and industrial enterprises, retail and residential areas, and historical sites. Most recently, the new Peninsula Town Center development opened in May 2010 on the site of the former Coliseum Mall. Located in the adjacent to the Hampton Coliseum and the Convention Center. Development of new development and additional public facilities are underway at Buckroe Beach. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on Interstate 64, expanded in the 1970s, the HRBT remains Virginias busiest and deepest such facility. In December 1606, three ships carrying men and boys left England on a mission sponsored by a proprietary company, headed by Captain Christopher Newport, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. After a long voyage, they first landed at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay on the shore at a place they named Cape Henry. During the first few days of exploration, they identified the site of Old Point Comfort as a defensive location at the entrance to the body of water that became known as Hampton Roads. This is formed by the confluence of the Elizabeth, Nansemond, the latter is the longest river in Virginia. Slightly south, near the entrance to Hampton River, the colonists seized the Native American community of Kecoughtan under Virginias Governor, the colonists established their own small town, with a small Anglican church, on July 9,1610. This came to be known as part of Hampton, the area became part of Elizabeth Cittie in 1619, Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, and was included in Elizabeth City County when it was formed in 1643. By 1680, the settlement was known as Hampton, and it was incorporated as a town in 1705, in the latter part of August 1619, an English ship flying a Dutch flag, the White Lion, appeared off shore from Point Comfort. Its cargo included 20 plus Africans captured from the slave ship Sao Joao Bautista and these were the first Africans to come ashore on English-occupied land in what would become the United States. John Rolfe, the widower of Pocahontas, wrote in a letter that he was at Point Comfort, although these first Bantu men from Angola were considered indentured servants, their arrival marked the beginning of slavery in North America. Two of the first Africans to arrive at Old Point Comfort in 1619 were Antoney and their child, the first of African descent born in North America, was born baptized January 1624
7.
Virginia Department of Transportation
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The Virginia Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. Headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in Downtown Richmond, VDOT is responsible for building, maintaining and it is overseen by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which has the power to fund airports, seaports, rail and public transportation. VDOTs revised annual budget for Fiscal Year 2017 is $5.35 billion, VDOT has a workforce of about 7,500 full-time employees. Snow Removal- VDOT is responsible for removing snow along the roads of Virginia. VDOT operates and maintains, Roads- VDOTs largest responsibility is the maintenance of roads, filling potholes, storm drain cleaning, water drainage, guard rail replacement, bridge work, tree and trash removal, as well as the maintenance of signs and traffic lights. Smaller portions of the budget are directed to address the needs and requirements of service, support to other agencies, administration. VDOT provides the Virginia 511 service, which may be accessed by the 511 telephone number, in May 2012, VDOT introduced the Virginia 511 smartphone apps for Apple and Android devices. The Virginia 511 system provides traffic cameras, real-time road and traffic conditions, trip planning, weather information, drivers complained that people who needed to use the restroom would have nowhere to go. In January 2010, governor Bob McDonnell announced that he would all of the closed rest areas as part of his campaign promises. The state is using an adopt a rest stop program, pulling 3 million dollars from the maintenance fund. They all reopened on April 17,2010, spontaneous roadside memorials, often in the form of white crosses, Stars of David, bouquets of flowers, and photos of the dead, have been placed along roads at the scenes of fatal accidents. As of July 1,2003, Virginia law has banned these memorials, Transportation officials have deemed them a threat to the safety of motorists. Virginia law §33. 1-206.1 prohibits any person from installing a memorial on any highway controlled by the VDOT without a permit, VDOT will install a roadside memorial sign, normally for a period of two years. The sign may not deviate from the standard roadside memorial sign specifications, the cost must by paid by the person requesting the sign. Not everyone agrees with the new program, vowing to ignore the program, Del. Robert G. Marshall, whose son was killed in an auto accident along Interstate 81 in November 2001, said, This is the bureaucratization of love. I intend to put a cross up for my son, by marking an accident site, survivors create a living memory of this persons life, said Donna Schuurman, president of Association for Death Education and Counseling. Americans have swept the grieving process under the rug, and now its popping up in ways that few expected—and that some dont like. They provided drivers with a faster and more reliable travel option, buses, carpools, motorcycles and emergency vehicles will be able to use the HOT lanes for free while drivers with fewer than three occupants can use the HOT lanes by paying a toll
8.
Trestle bridge
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A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used both as stools and to support tables at banquets. A trestle bridge is a composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. Since this type of bridge is called a trestle for short. Timber and iron trestles were used in the 19th century. In the 21st century, steel and sometimes concrete trestles are commonly used to bridge particularly deep valleys while timber trestles remain common in certain areas, many timber trestles were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the expectation that they would be temporary. Timber trestles were used to get the railroad to its destination, in the later 20th century, tools such as the earthmover made it cheaper to construct a high fill directly instead of first constructing a trestle from which to dump the fill. Timber trestles remain common in applications, most notably for bridge approaches crossing floodways. For the purposes of discharging material below, a coal trestle carried a dead-end track, one of the longest trestle spans created was for railroad traffic crossing the Great Salt Lake on the Lucin Cutoff in Utah. It was replaced by a causeway in the 1960s, and is now being salvaged for its timber. Many wooden roller coasters are built using design details similar to trestle bridges because it is so easy to make the roller coaster very high, since loads are well distributed through large portions of the structure it is also resilient to the stresses imposed. The structure also naturally leads to a certain redundancy, such wooden coasters, while limited in their path, possess a certain ride character that is appreciated by fans of the type. The Camas Prairie Railroad in northern Idaho utilized many timber trestles across the rolling Camas Prairie and in the major grade, the 1, 490-foot viaduct across Lawyers Canyon was the exception, constructed of steel and 287 feet in height. The floodway of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, the trestles are owned by the Canadian National Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The trestles were completed in 1936, after construction of the Spillway, the trestles may be the longest wooden railroad trestles remaining in regular use in North America. These were all replaced by masonry viaducts, few timber trestles survived into the 20th century. Two that did, and which are still in use, cross the Afon Mawddach on the coast of Wales only a few miles apart, at Barmouth. The former, built in 1867, carries trains on the heavy rail Cambrian Coast Line travelling from England via Shrewsbury to the small towns on Cardigan Bay. It also carries a toll-path for pedestrians, trestles in cast- or wrought-iron were used during the 19th Century on the developing railway network in the United Kingdom
9.
Tunnel
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A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods, a tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a transit network are usually in tunnel. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers, utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, special tunnels, such as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers safely. A tunnel is relatively long and narrow, the length is much greater than twice the diameter, although similar shorter excavations can be constructed. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel can vary widely from source to source, for example, the definition of a road tunnel in the United Kingdom is defined as a subsurface highway structure enclosed for a length of 150 metres or more. In the United States, the NFPA definition of a tunnel is An underground structure with a length greater than 23 m. The place where a road, railway, canal or watercourse passes under a footpath, cycleway, or another road or railway is most commonly called a bridge or, if passing under a canal, an aqueduct. Where it is important to stress that it is passing underneath, it may be called an underpass, a longer underpass containing a road, canal or railway is normally called a tunnel, whether or not it passes under another item of infrastructure. An underpass of any length under a river is usually called a tunnel. In the US, the term means an underground rapid transit system. Rail station platforms may be connected by tunnels or footbridges. Much of the technology of tunneling evolved from mining and military engineering. The etymology of the mining, military engineering, and civil engineering reveals these deep historic connections. A major tunnel project must start with an investigation of ground conditions by collecting samples from boreholes. An informed choice can then be made of machinery and methods for excavation and ground support, in planning the route, the horizontal and vertical alignments can be selected to make use of the best ground and water conditions. It is common practice to locate a tunnel deeper than otherwise would be required and this may be a particular concern in large-diameter tunnels
I-64 / US 60
