found on modern structures. The main lift span was 300 feet (90 m) long; the other two bridges included 110-foot (34 m) bascule spans. From 1928 to 1931, State Route 503, a state highway from Portsmouth via Churchland and Belleville to the private approach road south of the Nansemond River, was added to the state highway system. U.S. Route 17 was moved onto this alignment (from one of the ferries) by 1932, and still uses it today. State Route 258, now part of U.S. Route 258, was extended over the Benns Church approach and bridge by late 1943 to reach the new Mercury Boulevard. Thus all approaches had numbers at the time of the state takeover in 1949. In 1951, State Route 32 was extended from Suffolk over the bridge to end in Newport News, completely overlapped with other routes, "to facilitate the routing of traffic over the James River Bridge System, between points north of Newport News and south of Suffolk". Tolls, ownership, shunpiking As early as 1933, the State Highway Commission (SHC) considered taking over the bridge approaches - but not the bridges themselves - from the corporation. Projected traffic volumes were not reached, leading to bankruptcy of the James River Bridge Corporation. It was bought by bondholders, headed by a local businessman from Smithfield. The new owners raised tolls, proving unpopular with local residents. Chapter 399 of the Acts of Virginia of 1940 authorized the SHC to acquire the James River Bridge System, consisting of the three bridges and approach roads. The SHC bought the system from the corporation for $5.6 million on September 30, 1949. (equivalent to $ million in dollars). However, in 1955, the state doubled tolls to $1.80 round trip for cars (equivalent to $ in dollars) and $4.00 or more for trucks (equivalent to $ in dollars) in order to pay for repairs, new toll booths, and a new punched card system compatible with the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The toll plazas, which had numbered three - one for each bridge - were consolidated to two, one at the south end of the main bridge and one at the north end of the Nansemond River Bridge. Thus the Crittenden Bridge became free for local traffic. In addition, passenger vehicles and light trucks only had to pay at the first booth they reached; large trucks and buses had to pay twice. This meant that light