The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project will pass a pair of milestones this fall.
Mary, a nickname for the 430-foot-long machine boring the two new eastbound tunnels, is on track to make its second breakthrough in September. The machine completed boring the first tunnel last April and took more than five months to get turned around.
The Virginia Department of Transportation also plans to route eastbound traffic onto a new section of the bridge. Drivers exiting the tunnel to Norfolk will be directed onto the structure by early September.
The traffic shift will mark the end of the old eastbound roadway nearby, which will be torn down next, and what’s expected to be the final 18 months of the project.
“It’s going to be really, really game-changing,” said Ryan Banas, expansion project director.
Work started nearly five years ago on the nearly $4 billion expansion. Originally scheduled to wrap later this year, Banas said they’re now eyeing February 2027 for completion.
When it’s all done, the HRBT will be prepared to handle 120,000 to 130,000 cars per day, about double the current bridge tunnel is designed to carry.
It will expand the bridge tunnel’s four lanes to eight, with four reserved for high-occupancy vehicles or solo drivers who pay a toll. That capacity is intended to suit the region’s needs beyond the next 40 years. Banas said modeling further out is difficult to do without knowing how work commutes and travel technology will evolve.
“By the time we get there, we could be looking at a completely different way of conducting business from what we do today,” he said.
While eastbound motorists are being routed onto the new bridge, no one will be driving through the new tunnels until 2027. Crews are in the process of outfitting the newly bored tunnel with a roadway, lighting, fire suppression and pump systems. Mary is approaching the 70% mark on the second tunnel, which will need the same. New HOV lanes won’t go online until then either.
As progress continues underground, workers above are standing on the ends of massive concrete piles poking out of the bay on a section that will lead into the first new tunnel, doing intricate work to form the pedestals which will hold up the bridge’s girders. Banas said the girders’ elevation has to be almost perfect, giving crews just an eighth to a quarter inch margin of error, which is verified by laser.
“It’s a very brutal art,” Banas said. “It’s all big, brute force until you get to that last minute. Then you’ve got to be a little bit delicate.”
The end result will be a bridge tunnel with a longer lifespan and fewer maintenance concerns, in part because of the structure’s greater height. It will put more distance between the bridge’s bearings, which sit between its girders, and water spray that can cause corrosion and other issues.
Banas doesn’t expect any new traffic interruptions related to HRBT construction. As the project’s end is starting to come into view, Banas said drivers’ patience will be helpful as crews look to cross the finish line.
“When you’re going through here and you’re frustrated, remember, you’re in somebody’s office,” he said. “Put down your phone, focus on the road, follow the speed limit, drive safe and we’ll all get to an expanded HRBT a little bit faster.”
