Q: I had a conversation recently about the old tunnel that was in Baytown, but I don't know too much about it. What can you tell us about the tunnel and the bridge that replaced it?

A: I should know more about this tunnel turned bridge on my own, but I don't either. So I turned to the folks at the Texas Department of Transportation and did a little research myself.

The two-lane tunnel was called the Baytown-La Porte Tunnel and was opened in 1953, replacing the Morgans Point ferry.

Like the name says, the 4,000-foot long tunnel connected Baytown and La Porte underneath the Houston Ship Channel.

It had the capacity to handle about 25,000 vehicles a day in its 36 feet diameter interior that included three inches of steel and concrete lining.

The tunnel, though, exceeded its capacity by the 1970s, around the same time the Houston Ship Channel had to be deepened and widened to make way for larger ships.

The state transportation department began work on the bridge in the late 1980s and it was completed in 1995. In that time, the tunnel was removed from the water piece-by-piece.

The eight-lane, 2,475-foot cable bridge, initially called the 146 Bridge and now called the Fred Hartman Bridge, has capacity for 200,000 vehicles a day.

Hartman was the publisher of the Baytown Sun newspaper for two and a half decades.

Got a question for Amy? Email her at ArMoore@BeaumontEnterprise.com