NORFOLK, Va. — As a News 3 crew headed out to the southern island of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on a recent Wednesday, they were met with miles of traffic, adding more than 30 minutes to the trip.
VDOT hopes that by expanding the HRBT, delays like this will be lessened as other road projects continue to also come online.
"Ultimately, when these projects are complete, it will provide a more reliable traveling experience," said Christopher Hall, District Engineer for VDOT Hampton Roads.
He and Ryan Banas, project director for the HRBT Expansion, recently showed News 3 around the south island.
The nearly $4 billion expansion will one day allow for eight lanes of capacity across the water.
"These are enormously complex projects and this project is the largest and most complex in the history of the Commonwealth," said Hall.
A big step forward was the start of boring, which began in April and will create two new tunnels to one day carry eastbound traffic.
So far, the Tunnel Boring Machine, called Mary, has mined about 360 feet. The goal is for 50 feet per day, which they're still working towards.
Mary will create the first tunnel before turning around and digging out the second tunnel. VDOT chose this method to minimize impacts on the area.
"We're able to [bore] 24 hours a day without impacting ship movements, the Navy, or the traveling public," said Banas.
Also on the south island sits the Slurry Treatment Plant, which is called Katherine and named for the late famed NASA Langley Research Center mathematician Katherine Johnson.
Slurry is a mixture of water and other additives and helps Mary in the process of removing soil to put the tunnels into place.
As Mary digs, materials need to be removed from the area. They're sent up to the treatment plant, where solids and liquids are separated. Then, the liquids are reused to make the process more efficient.
"Our slurry is our method of removing our soil below the ground and bringing it up above ground," said Banas.
The island is also the receiving point of the segments that will be connected into rings to build the tunnels. News 3 got a look at that process last year in Cape Charles.
The segments are loaded onto a barge and sent to the island, where a crane helps load them to be placed into Mary.
"Overall from a project perspective, [we're] just across that 50-percent milestone," said Banas.
The project has faced delays, though. The contractor is supposed to be done by the end of 2025, but now VDOT estimates they're a year or so behind schedule.
"With their current trajectory pushing later, showing more than a year later, it's unlikely that we would be able to rein that back into 2025, but we're looking at every opportunity to improve it," said Banas.
There have also been recent traffic delays on two recent mornings due to issues with the contractor.
VDOT temporarily stopped lane closures, but has since restarted them.
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"A lot of efforts have gone into that. We're confident with the plans we have put in place, but just like anything, we're always looking for opportunities to improve," said Banas.
For now, construction of the new bridges on both sides continues with the major project hoping to calm traffic one day.
In addition to these projects, News 3 also asked about other road projects going on in the area.
On the Laskin Road Bridge Replacement and Widening Project in Virginia Beach, VDOT says construction will continue throughout the summer with reconstruction at the Hilltop area expected to be completed by spring 2024.
The I-64 Southside Widening and High Rise Bridge Expansion Project in Chesapeake is expected to be completed as early as this fall.
