Metalliance Transports Bound for Hampton Roads Tunnel Project

METALLIANCE, a company specialized in the design and manufacture of industrial equipment and mobile machinery, has announced an order for 3 TSPs (rubber-tired trains) for the I-64 road widening project between Hampton and Norfolk, in Virginia. METALLIANCE’s TSPs will be used to transport site personnel, segments and other tunneling components for the construction of two new 2.4 km long underwater tunnels. They will be accompanied by two personnel cells for 6 and 21 persons.

The contract includes design, fabrication, assembly, testing and delivery by METALLIANCE of the TSPs scheduled for early 2022. This turnkey service is in response to an order from Hampton Road Connectors Partners (HRCP), a joint venture between Dragados USA, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Flatiron Constructors and Dodin Campenon Bernard. The final client is the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Each TSP will be able to carry a load of up to 140 tons and will be modular. The TSPs are in fact clean vehicles, diesel (Stage V anti-pollution standard) or all-electric, designed to be transformed and readapted according to the needs of each customer, without modifying the vehicles. From the design phase, it is planned to be able to integrate all the modules without having to reconfigure the vehicle for each use. In terms of modularity, the customer will have personnel transport cells, storage baskets and racks for storing tubes. The rubber-tyred train solution, which is known for its flexibility of use, allows for significant productivity gains.

The I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in southeastern Virginia has long been one of the most congested roads in the region. Currently, 2 underwater tunnels of 2.2 km and 2×2 traffic lanes, built in 1957 and 1976 between 2 artificial islands, allow the crossing of the bay. However, they are insufficient, as up to 100,000 vehicles use the existing road during the summer, causing traffic jams of up to 8 kilometers.

The new project aims to relieve congestion on this busy road by building additional lanes. That requires the construction of new tunnels and viaducts at sea.

“Our company is delighted to be involved in such a large-scale project in the United States, as it is the largest construction project ever awarded in the state of Virginia. METALLIANCE – which is known for inventing the rubber-tired train and is now present on very large construction sites all over the world – is proud of the range of its technologies as well as the know-how of its teams. This ability to respond flexibly to the needs of its customers allows METALLIANCE to intervene today on this demanding project, the usefulness of which will be widely perceived in this tourist region,” says Jean-Claude COTHENET, CEO of METALLIANCE.

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