Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (Portsmouth)

Martin Luther King Freeway
Route information
Maintained by Elizabeth River Crossings
Length:	4.9 mi (7.9 km)
Component highways:	US 58
Major junctions
South end:	US 58 (London Boulevard)
	I‑264 / US 460 Alt.
North end:	SR 164 (Western Freeway)
Location
Counties:	City of Portsmouth
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Virginia Routes Interstate U.S. Primary Secondary Byways History Turnpikes

The Martin Luther King Freeway is a five-mile-long (8.0 km) stretch of U.S. Route 58 (US 58) in the state of Virginia that connects State Route 164 (SR 164, Western Freeway) and the Midtown Tunnel complex with midtown Portsmouth at London Boulevard (which continues on and carries the US 58 designation to points west), ending at High Street and US 17. As part of the rehabilitation work at Midtown and Downtown tunnels, the MLK Freeway is being extended to continue to connect to Interstate 264 (I-264) in a partial interchange that is expected to open in late 2016.

Route description

The freeway effectively begins at the Pinners Point Interchange where the West Norfolk Bridge carries the Western Freeway across the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River, and where US 58 emerges from the Midtown Tunnel. It then continues south (although signed as US 58 westbound). It connects in a partial interchange with London Boulevard, where it loses its US Route designation. Continuing as SR 337, it stops being a de facto freeway as it continues with residential cross streets up until its intersection terminus at High Street and Harbor Drive.

Extension and tolling

U.S. Route 58 Toll
Route information
Auxiliary route of US 58
Maintained by Elizabeth River Crossings
Length:	5.7 mi (9.2 km)
History:	Extension opening 2016
Major junctions
South end:	I‑264 / US 460 Alt.
	I‑264 / US 460 Alt.
North end:	SR 164 (Western Freeway)
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Virginia Routes Interstate U.S. Primary Secondary Byways History Turnpikes

Further information: Elizabeth River Tunnels Project

As part of the long term plan to improve the Midtown Tunnel connection, regional leaders and VDOT looked to extend the freeway from its terminus at High Street down to I-264, creating a highway-speed alternate that connected not only I-264 to the Midtown Tunnel, but to the newly built Western Freeway as well. Efforts to extend the MLK Freeway have been in the works with VDOT as far back as the early 1990s, when the agency completed its initial environmental assessment. The project again went through an environmental assessment in 1999, which was also the same time that VDOT began effectively pursuing the parallel Midtown Tunnel.

The extension became part of the Elizabeth River Tunnels Project when VDOT offered it as part of the public-private partnership solicitation in 2008. After the lengthy review process required under the PPTA, then-Governor Bob McDonnell and VDOT executed the Comprehensive Agreement with ERC on December 5, 2011. Under the agreement, VDOT retains ownership and oversight of the tunnels and the MLK Freeway, while ERC finances, builds, operates and maintains the facilities for a 58-year concession period.

The Martin Luther King Freeway portion of the project consists of extending the freeway from the end of the U.S. 58 concurrency terminus at London Boulevard to an interchange with I-264 with an interchange at High Street. Construction on the extension began in November 2014, with an estimated completion date of December 23, 2016, one day before the new Midtown Tunnel is scheduled to open. The basic outline of the new extension will take it down the former Harbor Drive, which was closed in order to build the new extension. In order to be built to freeway standards, it will eliminate all cross street traffic, including that at High Street, which will instead become an limited interchange. The other streets that were closed as a part of the project were either rerouted, or turned into cul-de-sacs. The project also required the permanent closure of two I-264 exit/entrance ramps: I-264 East Exit to Des Moines Ave, and I-264 entrance ramp from South Street. 

After the extension is completed, the entire route will also then become the designated U.S. 58 West MLK Freeway, with I-264 presumably carrying it to the Bowers Hill Interchange in western Chesapeake. Although the freeway will run north and south nominally, the freeway will be signed as east and west, to continue the concurrency of U.S. 58. London Boulevard, the previously designated US 58, will revert to its state highway designation of SR 141.

Toll rates

Originally, the MLK Freeway was to be tolled $1.00 for non-tunnel users and $.50 for users who also travel through the tunnel. However, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced on July 10, 2015 that $78 million of construction money originally designated for the now defunct Route 460 project (which was another PPP approved by his predecessor, Bob McDonnell) would be reallocated to buyout the MLK Freeway tolls for the remainder of the concession period.

Major intersections

The entire route is in Portsmouth.

mi	km	Destinations	Notes
0.00	0.00	US 58 east – Tunnel, Norfolk	Western terminus of concurrency with US 58
		SR 164 west to I‑664 – Suffolk, Newport News	Last exit before tunnel
		Port Norfolk	No southbound access from SR 164 entrance ramp
		Future toll gantry
		US 58 west (London Boulevard) to I‑264 – Suffolk	Eastern terminus of concurrency with US 58; southbound exit and northbound entrance
		SR 141 south (London Boulevard) – Downtown Portsmouth	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		SR 337 (High Street) to SR 337 Alt. / I‑264 / US 58	Former at-grade intersection; closed for future interchange construction
		Future toll gantry
		I‑264 / US 460 Alt. / US 58 west – Norfolk, Suffolk	Future interchange and terminus of concurrency with US 58
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Unopened