One westbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel lane will close again tonight

One of two westbound lanes of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel will close again at 7 p.m. and not reopen until 9 a.m. tomorrow, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

It is recommended motorists leaving the Norfolk area for Richmond and other points west tonight take Interstate 64 east to the I-64, I-264 and I-664 interchange and take I-664 across the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.

VDOT spokeswoman Lauren Hansen said that additional work needs to be done after tonight’s lane closing, but it will be postponed so that both westbound lanes will remain open for the Fourth of July to handle the anticipated holiday traffic.

She said that when both lanes were opened at 9:30 a.m., traffic was backed up seven miles, but quickly got back to normal.

Standing water inside the westbound side of the tunnel prompted the to partially close the tunnel for most of the day yesterday, The problem was believed to have been caused by the power outage during severe storms Wednesday night.