HAMPTON, Va. — Still two years away from scheduled completion, the Project Director for the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion says 2025 will be the “most meaningful” year for the people driving the iconic four-mile span.
“People are never short on questions,” Ryan Banas told News 3 this week. “‘How soon congestion will be relieved?’ My answer to them is we’re working as hard as we can.”
The Virginia Department of Transportation’s HRBT Expansion broke ground in late 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in early 2027. At roughly $4 billion, it’s the largest transportation project in state history.
Previous coverage: Mary, the tunnel-boring machine, starts work again on the HRBT Expansion Project
Mary, the tunnel boring machine, starts work again on the HRBT Expansion Project
When finished, the bridge tunnel connecting Norfolk and Hampton will have widened from four lanes to eight, with two new tunnels carrying traffic eastbound. Westbound traffic will occupy the two original tunnels. The inside two lanes going each way will be reserved for high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) with two or more people inside, though people driving alone will also be able to pay a toll to use the lanes.
The hope is the additional lanes will make the consistent and frustrating traffic backups, for which the HRBT has become known, much less frequent.
After breaking through on the first of the two new tunnels in April, the massive tunnel-boring machine VDOT is using — nicknamed ‘Mary’ — was turned around and, six months later, began work on the second tunnel.
Previous coverage: There’s nothing boring about the HRBT expansion project’s tunnel boring machine
Tunnel boring machine used in HRBT expansion arrives at North Island
This week, VDOT says the machine started back up after a quiet month of reconfiguration.
Anthony Sabella/WTKR
“2025, of all the years we’ve had on the project, is going to be the most meaningful for the traveling public,” Banas, who oversees more than 2,000 people working on the project, told News 3. “Our hope is that [Mary] comes in late summer, early fall, going for her second breakthrough.”
Once the machine breaks through — expected later this year — Mary will be disassembled, Banas says, and crews will begin outfitting the new tunnels for traffic.
That’s still several months off, however. VDOT took News 3 on a rare tour through the body of the boring machine, the front of which has carved several hundred feet into the earth. The circular tunnels are close to 50 feet in diameter.
Previous coverage: Mary the Tunnel Boring Machine makes a U-turn to prepare for journey home after HRBT expansion work
HRBT Expansion Project could finish by September of 2026
Randy Reale, a safety manager for the HRBT Expansion, took News 3 inside the pilot house, where only two contractors control the massive boring machine.
“This is giving us the direction as you can see,” Reale said, pointing to one of several monitors. “We’ve never been off…I believe it’s no more than two inches.”
VDOT
It’s all work that drivers do not see when crossing the bridge, but Banas says they will notice a big shift in traffic expected this spring.
“The first major shift we’re going to see is the eastbound trestle heading between the South Island [and] Willoughby Spit,” he told News 3.
It’s the new section of bridge taking traffic into Norfolk. It’s taller, offering better views of the Hampton Roads Harbor and Naval Station Norfolk, but that’s not that purpose of the height increase.
Previous coverage: ‘Mary the Tunnel Boring Machine’ makes its debut at tunnel expansion ceremony
Boring machine arrives
“(It’s to) get higher out of the salt spray. We’ll have a much longer lifespan,” said Banas. “We have a project we’re building to last a hundred years.”
He adds that the angle of the bridge will also help with drainage and cars to keep up highway speeds.
Eventually, Banas says existing bridges will be demolished and taken to parts of the surrounding harbor designated for artificial reef construction.
Anthony Sabella/WTKR
But the big question is this: Will years of construction headaches lead to a cure for the traffic headaches that plague the busiest connection between Hampton Roads’ two sides.
“I think we have undersold the positive impact the HRBT expansion is going to have on Hampton Roads,” insists Banas. “We’ve seen what additional capacity has done at the Midtown Tunnel (in Norfolk). We’ve seen what it’s done at the High Rise Bridge (in Chesapeake). I think we’re going to blow both of those expectations out of the water at the HRBT.”
Only two more years before we find out for sure.
