Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion

Signature Project Reaches Notable Milestones

Located in southeastern Virginia, the Hampton Roads region is home to approximately 1.8 million residents spread across 17 different localities. The lifeline of the region is its proximity to water and the economic drivers associated with a thriving beach community, as well as major naval and commercial shipping facilities.

But the natural assets that have allowed the area to grow also present challenges, notably mobility issues associated with crossing the waterways that make the region vibrant.

One of the biggest challenges has been the north-south crossing of the mouth of the James River between Newport News, Hampton and communities to the north and Norfolk, Virginia Beach and communities to the south along the I-64 corridor.

The existing crossing – the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) — originally opened in 1957 and expanded in 1976, consists of two lanes in each direction. Its opening replaced ferry service as the means of connecting the region. Notably, the construction of the first tunnel marked the first time ever a tunnel was built between two artificial islands. Today, however, traffic volumes exceed 100,000 vehicles per day and the current infrastructure is unable to accommodate growing demand, leading to frequent bottlenecks and delays.

As early as the 1990s, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) knew it needed an upgraded solution. When funding became available through the creation of a local sales and use tax earmarked to fund infrastructure improvement projects with revenues managed by the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission-HRTAC, VDOT had the means to complete its vision.

The resulting project is the HRBT Expansion, a $3.9 billion program that constitutes the largest highway construction project in Virginia’s history. The HRBT Expansion aims to ease congestion along a nearly 10-mile corridor along I-64 through the addition of twin, two-lane bored tunnels under the harbor. In addition to new tunnel construction, the project involves replacing/building bridge structures (five bridges to be replaced, 23 to be widened), replacing marine trestles and widening of the roadway in each direction.

In early 2019, VDOT entered into a design-build contract with Hampton Roads Connector Partners to build the project. Hampton Roads Connector Partners includes Dragados USA, Vinci Construction Grands Projects, Flatiron Constructors and Dodin Campenon Bernard, with HDR and Mott MacDonald as design joint venture. Ryan Banas of HNTB is serving as the Project Director with support from an integrated team of VDOT and WSP staff.

Design Approach
The centerpiece of the HRBT Expansion is the boring of two tunnels under the shipping channel that each house two lanes of traffic each. The Hampton Roads area has plenty of experience with tunneling in the region, but all of the previous tunnels – 10 in total – were constructed using the immersed tube method. In planning the HRBT Expansion, a tunneled option was preferred. The soft soils in the area make building large bridge foundations difficult, and tunnels help ensure the unimpeded flow of shipping traffic both during and after construction. Additionally, to build bridges with a height to provide sufficient clearance for the passage of large vessels, longer approaches are needed, which complicates construction and potentially adds disruption, as well as the acquisition of private and commercial properties. Thus, the tunneled option became more attractive.

In planning the HRBT Expansion, VDOT decided to use a contracting method that would allow for input of contractors in developing the technical approach to the work. VDOT procured the contract with Hampton Roads Connector Partners via a design-build approach. VDOT allowed proposals that included either the immersed tube or bored approach.

“We were not prescriptive in our approach in terms of a bored tunnel or immersed tube tunnel,” said Banas, HRBT Expansion Project Director. “Through early contractor engagement and through industry outreach, we were able to learn that contractors have different core competencies and different risk portfolios. There are many challenges and advantages related to the type of tunnel method you use, and we wanted to make sure that the contractor had the expertise and a comfort level with how the tunnel was constructed. As long as the end product meets our requirements, we are open to allowing the contractor to provide the technical solutions.”

Banas adds that VDOT had the advantage of learning from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel’s Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel Project, a nearby project that also involved a new bored tunnel built from artificial island to artificial island that was procured shortly before the HRBT job.

The design-build approach was also useful in planning the overall 10-mile corridor and dealing with the challenges of upgrading the interstate and dealing with stakeholders, including a VA hospital, Hampton University, the U.S. Navy, and numerous businesses and residents, Banas added.

Tunnel Construction
Under the contract, HRCP is responsible for the tunnel and the accompanying roadway and bridge repair/construction work. The existing tunnel stretches between two artificial islands and links Hampton in the north to Norfolk in the south, spanning the entrance to the James River and Hampton Roads. The new tunnels will be built next to the existing tunnels.

A geotechnical investigation during the planning stages in combination with an examination of records from previously built facilities identified a zone known as the Yorktown layer – a silty clay 60 to 80 ft deep – as the tunneling stratum.

HRCP built a tri-cell slurry wall shaft on South Island – the larger of the two manmade islands – as the launch pit for the variable-density Herrenknecht slurry TBM, which arrived in November 2021.

Due to the soft organic silts of the estuary, HRCP improved the ground around the area of the tunnel launch zone using jet grouting and deep soil mixing to facilitate the transition into the Yorktown layer.

The TBM was launched in April 2023, completing the nearly 8,000-ft drive to North Island on April 17, 2024. Once it broke through into the reception, the TBM was rotated on a turntable that used liquid nitrogen to reduce friction and headed back to the south to complete the tunneling process. As of late March 2025, crews had completed about 2,900 ft or 37 percent of the drive back toward South Island.

Crews are working 24 hours a day, five days per week to advance the tunnel. Weekends are reserved for maintenance and other related work, including roadway and systems work. It is anticipated that the final drive will be completed in fall 2025, marking the end of tunnel construction.

The TBM is installing segmental liners as it progresses. The segments were cast in Cape Charles, Virginia, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and arrived at the project site by barge. Approximately 21,000 segments will be installed. To process the slurry, crews are using a plant supplied by French company MS, which is housed on South Island.

The TBM is equipped with either disc cutters or a combination of rippers and scrapers. Disc cutters were used to excavate the head wall at the shafts and switched out to rippers and scrapers to mine the soft soils under the channel. Wear monitoring sensors are used in combination with visual inspection to ensure that tooling is in good condition, which helps keep the TBM operating at optimal efficiency.

The project represents only the third TBM-bored highway tunnel in the United States (Port of Miami Tunnel and Seattle SR 99 Tunnel are the others), and the second largest TBM used in the country to date (behind SR 99). The 46-ft diameter variable density TBM is also the largest machine of its kind ever fabricated.

Looking Ahead
The HRBT Expansion project has begun to celebrate notable milestones, including the breakthrough of the first tunnel segment. In 2023, VDOT completed its largest-ever continuous concrete pour, placing 5,480 cu yd of concrete in 31 hours as part of the receiving pit preparation on North Island. VDOT also marked the completion of its first new bridge – connecting North Island to the mainland – marking HRBT’s first new bridge in 50 years.

Banas expects many more milestones coming up in the year ahead. “2025 will be our most meaningful year yet,” he said. “We are going to be putting traffic onto new bridges and people can start to appreciate the benefits of these past few years of construction.”

When complete in 2027, the HRBT Expansion will double the capacity of the bridge tunnel, easing congestion along the crowded corridor that routinely sees miles-long backups in peak months, as well as ensuring a safe evacuation route in the event of hurricanes and other emergencies.

An added benefit of the project is its role in the economic development of the region, enabling the efficient flow of truck traffic to and from the Port of Virginia facilities. VDOT estimates that the HRBT Expansion will spur more than $4.6 billion in investment in the region as well as provide 28,000 jobs throughout the job’s duration.