Gov. Ralph Northam joined the Virginia Department of Transportation and state and local leaders Thursday to break ground on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project.
This article was republished with permission from 海角精品黑料鈥檚 news partner . Sign up for
This article was written by 海角精品黑料鈥檚 news partner聽聽and republished with permission. Sign up for聽听迟辞诲补测.
Gov. Ralph Northam joined the Virginia Department of Transportation and state and local leaders Thursday to break ground on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project.
The $3.8 billion project will increase tunnel and interstate capacity along 9.9 miles of Interstate 64 between Hampton and Norfolk, reducing congestion and easing access to the Port of Virginia and the world鈥檚 largest Naval base.
鈥淔or too long, traffic in the Hampton Roads region has bottlenecked at the tunnel,鈥� Northam said. 鈥淔olks in this region deserve an easier, more reliable commute. This is the largest project in our history, and it will ensure that people can move around faster, that commerce flows more easily, and that we finally connect the Peninsula and the Southside. This project will make everyone鈥檚 lives easier when it is completed.鈥�
Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine said the world’s best designers, builders and engineers are working on the expansion, and they will use the latest technology.
鈥淲e are bringing every asset to the table to give people what they may value most 鈥� time,鈥� Valentine said.
Virginia crews will use a highly-specialized tunnel boring machine to dig through soil and construct tunnel segments simultaneously. The advanced technology is used in the construction of hprojects such as Manhattan鈥檚 Second Avenue Subway.
The new HRBT is only the fourth roadway project to use this equipment in the United States. The machinery is under construction in Germany and is expected to arrive in Hampton Roads in 2021 for assembly, which will take several months. It is expected to begin tunneling operations in early 2022.
The project has received support from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, federal and local partners. Design-build contractor Hampton Roads Connector Partners (HRCP) received Notice to Proceed for full construction activities in September. The project is expected to be completed in November 2025.
A Project Administration and Funding Agreement with HRTAC first announced in April 2019 commits 92 percent of locally-sourced funding for the expansion. Additional financing includes $200 million from the Virgiina鈥檚 SMART SCALE program and $108 million from VDOT.
In addition to alleviating congestion for motorists, the completed project will benefit tourism, the Port of Virginia, and the military鈥攖hree critical industries in Hampton Roads, VDOT says.
The expansion is projected to bolster the economic competitiveness of in Hampton Roads with more than $4.6 billion in investments and an estimated 28,000 new jobs over the life of the project.
The state has worked to maximize the participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) and Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned (SWaM) businesses across Virginia for the HRBT project. More than 160 DBE and SWaM agreements have been executed so far as part of the project, representing more than $87 million in contract awards.
The project will add twin, two-lane bored tunnels and widen the four-lane segments of Interstate 64 in Hampton between Settlers Landing Road and the Phoebus shoreline, and in Norfolk between the Willoughby shoreline and the I-564 interchange. More than 100,000 vehicles currently use this facility during peak travel periods.
For additional information about the HRBT Expansion Project, visit聽.
