The Robert Opie Norris Jr. Bridge (known to the public as "The White Stone Bridge") is a

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

that spans the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the enti ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States and serves as the crossing for

State Route 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3 (disambiguation)#Roads, M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3 (disambiguation)#Roads, N3. For roads numbered 3A, see ...

over the river between Grey's Point on the Middlesex County side and the town of White Stone in Lancaster County. The span was opened on August 30, 1957, and replaced a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service directly West of where the current bridge is located. Commonly known by locals as the White Stone Bridge or Rappahannock River Bridge, this span is a critical crossing between the Lower Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck as the next closest crossing is over upstream near Tappahannock. Traffic forced to utilize a detour over the upstream crossing could potentially travel over . The Norris Bridge is long, and provides a

Mean High Water A chart datum is the water level, water surface serving as origin (mathematics), origin (or coordinate surface) of depth (coordinate), depths displayed on a nautical chart and for reporting and predicting tide heights. A chart datum is generally ...

clearance of under the center span with a channel depth of over . The bridge is maintained by the

Virginia Department of Transportation The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the U.S. state, state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Buildin ...

. When first opened, the bridge was crossed by just over 1,000 vehicles per day, on average. Tolls were removed from the bridge in 1976, and by 1978 the average daily traffic had risen to over 2,500 vehicles per day. By 2006, traffic counts reached 11,309 vehicles per day but shrank to 6,900 Annual Average Daily Traffic in 2017.

History

Originally initiated on November 16, 1938 by the creation of the Lower Rappahannock Bridge Commission, planning work on the bridge began in earnest in 1950, and construction began in 1954. Four workers were killed in construction accidents on the bridge.

Present Day

Between the opening of the bridge and the placement of the current traffic safety barrier, there have been two known fatal accidents involving cars crashing off the bridge into the water below. Prior to July 2021,

Dominion Virginia Power Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Ut ...

operated a 115 kilovolt (kV) transmission line that was attached to the East side of the bridge. This bridge-mounted 115 kV transmission line was removed after a replacement underwater 115 kV transmission line was brought online. This transmission line replacement was identified by Dominion Power as a needed project in order to remove risk of violating mandated NERC standards. Increased inspection routines relating to the age of the bridge itself required the attached transmission line be de-energized each time the inspections were carried out. The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) later ordered Dominion Power to route the new transmission line underwater.

Future

The Robert O. Norris Bridge has been identified as a State of Good Repair Infrastructure asset in that the pavement and superstructure of the bridge are deemed structurally deficient and replacement should be performed at or before the end of its 75 year design lifespan in 2032. In addition, the Norris Bridge has been identified as being ' fracture-critical' and the failure of one span could cause the total collapse of the structure much like the collapse of

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

's I-35W Bridge in August 2007. On April 15th, 2025, Virginia's Office of The Governor released a statement outlining plans for the future of the bridge. The released plans include a plan to begin construction to replace the bridge in 2028.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1957 Road bridges in Virginia Former toll bridges in Virginia Truss bridges in the United States Buildings and structures in Lancaster County, Virginia Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Virginia Rappahannock River 1957 establishments in Virginia