CAPE CHARLES, Va. (WAVY) — We’re giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project.
Crews will put together pre-fabricated pieces to make up two new tubes between Norfolk and Hampton. Those pieces are being constructed at a plant on the Eastern Shore.
In 2014, the expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was included in a list of priority projects. On Wednesday, a company in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore is making these large concrete segments to help complete the project.
Construction on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project started back in November 2020. So far, it’s on budget and on time.
“We are in the construction phase,” said James Utterback, the HRBT expansion project manager.
Behind the scenes at Technopref Industries, some heavy lifting is underway, working to construct concrete segments that, once connected, will become the tunnel.
“One ring is nine segments and we will assemble nine segments [to] build a ring. And, ring after ring, install them. That constitutes a tunnel,” said Yvonnick Rescamps, the HRCP tunnel manager.
The expansion will add two new two-lane tunnels and there will be over 21,000 tunnel lining segments precisely placed to control the curve at 150 feet below sea level.
“The attention to detail, from the design to the construction, and to make sure we have precision so that these segments fit together to make the tunnel — and to make it as watertight as we can,” Utterback said.
The completed segments will be placed on a barge 18 rings at a time and shipped 25 miles to the HRBT south island site.
“There is a whole logistic setup to make sure that there is enough rings on the location there to continue boring once we start,” Utterback said.
The excavation for the tunnel boring machine is planned to start early next spring.
At $3.8 billion, the HRBT expansion is the largest highway construction project in Virginia history. it is expected to be completed in November 2025.