Dwight Farmer, executive director of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, said Thursday was a "historic day for transportation."

"If we don't wake up after today, I don't know what we will do."

Transportation, city and business leaders have pushed since the 1990s for transportation improvements to provide additional access to the region and better hurricane evacuation routes. Those projects include another crossing of the Hampton Roads harbor, expanding the Midtown Tunnel and upgrading U.S. 460 to interstate quality.

But they will cost billions of dollars that current funding sources cannot cover. The General Assembly repeatedly has rejected proposals to raise taxes and fees for transportation funding.

"We have listened to the members of the General Assembly long enough," Fraim said. "The consequences of what has occurred is a direct result of their inaction to provide adequate funding for transportation.

"We have to have adequate funding for maintenance to make sure that pumps in tunnels are exercised and maintained. We need other routes out of here as well. ... We need passenger rail to South Hampton Roads and another crossing of the harbor. We have an excellent plan for both, but it needs to be funded."

Added Farmer, "I don't know how long we can put our head in the sand on this issue."

VDOT's Hansen gave this account of what led to the tunnel's closing:

A severe electrical and rain storm rolled across the bridge-tunnel Wednesday night, causing power outages and power surges. Apparently the power issues damaged a water main pump and possibly caused a water main break in the westbound tunnel. The malfunctions caused the pump house to fill with water, eventually overwhelming it and water seeped into the tunnel's travel lanes.

The water pooled 4 to 6 inches deep at the mouth of the tunnel on the Hampton side. Tunnel staff were unaware of the problem until about 6:30 a.m. The problem was not detected earlier because the alarm system alerting the control room of a failure is electric and also malfunctioned. Water was shut off and the westbound lanes were closed.

"This is internal water -- water from pipes around the tube," Hansen said. Water mains run through the tunnels for fire suppression systems.

Crews worked into the evening using vacuum trucks to suck the water out of the travel lanes and the pump house before they could reach the source of the problem. Until crews can reach the water main and water pump, the precise damage could not be pinpointed. VDOT was able to reroute the water flow to another pumping system and took the faulty pump off line. One lane reopened at 2:30 p.m. and all were reopened by 7:30 p.m. Repairs will continue throughout the weekend, with at least one line closed over night.