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Tag: Interstate 81

Miles to go

Virginia’s largest-ever highway construction project, the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) expansion, continues to dominate the state’s ongoing roadwork projects.

Construction began in October 2020. The contractor — Hampton Roads Connector Partners, a joint venture led by Dragados USA Inc. that includes Vinci Construction, Flatiron Construction and Dodin Campenon Bernard — was running 11 months behind schedule as of January 2023. However, the Virginia Department of Transportation has not changed the contract completion date of November 2025. The department “continues to work with the contractor to mitigate any production delays and will continue to support HRCP as needed to ensure they achieve project milestones,” VDOT said in a statement.

The expansion is meant to reduce congestion, add emergency evacuation routes and increase access to the Port of Virginia. It will widen 9.9 miles of Interstate 64 between Norfolk and Hampton, from four lanes to six on land and eight over the water, with twin two-lane tunnels. VDOT anticipates major traffic shifts will begin this spring.

Work on laying bases for bridge trestles continues. Early this year, construction crews finished preparations to allow a new temporary eastbound marine trestle on South Island to open. The trestle will temporarily support traffic emerging from the eastbound tunnel, allowing demolition of the existing bridge to begin.

A $70 million custom-built tunnel boring machine (TBM) will carve underwater paths. Crews continue to assemble the TBM, and on Jan. 13, two cranes lowered the 46-foot-diameter cutterhead into the South Island launch pit and attached it to the TBM. This first necessitated contractors to excavate 118,000 cubic yards of soil — enough to cover 55 football fields with one foot of soil. Work continues on the North Island receiving pit. In March, crews were working on final preparations to the launch shaft and the TBM, including welding components together. VDOT expected system testing activities to begin in March, with tunnel boring expected to begin as early as April if testing results were good.

The commonwealth’s other major ongoing highway projects are:

Northern Virginia

Improve 95

The state government entered a $1 billion public-private partnership with Transurban, an Australian toll-road operations company that has its U.S. headquarters in Alexandria, as part of its Improve 95 plan to address congestion. Developers estimate the project will increase Interstate 95’s capacity by 66% during rush hour traffic. The $565 million
Fredericksburg Extension (Fred Ex) project will extend I-95 express lanes south to Exit 133 in Stafford County, a roughly 10-mile stretch. Transurban will operate and maintain the express lanes, charging variable tolls in a contract that ends in 2087. Construction work began in spring 2019 and was originally expected to end in late 2022, but construction delays have pushed the expected completion date to late 2023.

Shenandoah/Southwest Virginia

Interstate 81 improvements, Coalfields Expressway

The $2.7 billion Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Program encompasses 64 improvements, including interchange ramp upgrades, highway widening and lane additions — all designed to improve road safety and reliability for the 325-mile corridor from Bristol to Winchester. Stemming from a 2018 study, the project is scheduled for a 2033 completion. Improvement schedules vary. One recently completed improvement is the extension of the northbound and southbound acceleration lanes at Exit 205 in Rockbridge County by roughly 0.4 miles and 0.3 miles, respectively. Construction started in April 2021 and ended in October 2022.

The proposed $4 billion Coalfields Expressway (CFX), designated as U.S. Route 460/121, is set to run through Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia. Construction on a $207 million 2-mile stretch of U.S. Route 460 that will extend from near state Route 604 to the existing Route 460 in Grundy is expected to be finished this December, at which point Virginia would have opened 8 miles of the CFX. VDOT plans to widen the same 2-mile portion to four lanes using $7 million that the U.S. government allocated in its fiscal 2023 spending bill. In February, the department was working with the contractor, Bizzack Construction LLC, to add the additional lane for the 2-mile widening to the contract. VDOT anticipates work starting in the spring or summer, with an expected completion in late 2023.  

A sampling of Virginia’s major road projects

HAMPTON ROADS

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project

Work continues on Virginia’s largest highway construction project, the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) expansion. The contract ends in November 2025, but the contractor — Hampton Roads Connector Partners, a joint venture led by Dragados USA Inc. — was about 11 months behind in January, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. VDOT hasn’t changed the contract completion date and says the department “will continue to work with the contractor to mitigate any production delays.”

The project will widen the four-lane segments of the 9.9-mile Interstate 64 corridor between Norfolk and Hampton to six lanes on land and eight over the water with twin two-lane tunnels. Marine work laying bases for bridge trestles is ongoing.

Crews will use a $70 million custom-built tunnel boring machine (TBM) to carve out underwater paths. In June 2022, contractors finished excavating 118,000 cubic yards of soil for the TBM launch pit. In fall 2022, workers reassembled 170 pieces of the TBM on the South Island in the pit. Work on the receiving pit on the North Island is ongoing, and VDOT anticipates boring will begin in spring.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Improve 95

As part of the Improve 95 plan to address congestion, the state government entered into a $1 billion public-private partnership with Transurban, an Australian toll-road operations company with its U.S. headquarters in Alexandria. The $565 million Fredericksburg Extension (Fred Ex) project will extend Interstate 95 express lanes about 10 miles south to Exit 133 in Stafford County. Transurban will operate and maintain the lanes, charging variable usage tolls in a contract that continues until 2087. Construction on the project started in spring 2019. The project’s expected completion was initially late 2022 but became late 2023 due to construction delays.

SHENANDOAH/SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

Interstate 81 improvements, Coalfields Expressway

Resulting from a 2018 study, the $2.7 billion Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Program lists 64 planned upgrades targeting safety and reliability along the 325-mile corridor from Bristol to Winchester. It’s scheduled for completion in 2033. Improvements include interchange ramp upgrades, highway widening and auxiliary lanes. Projects are in varying stages. A recently completed project is the 0.8-mile ramp extension from Route 11 onto northbound I-81 at exit 47 in Marion that opened to traffic in July 2022. VDOT traffic engineers estimated that the extension could reduce crashes by up to 77%.

The 115-mile, $4 billion Coalfields Expressway — U.S. Route 460/121 — is slated to run through Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia, boosting commerce and tourism. About 50 miles of the proposed expressway would run through Virginia. Construction is underway on a $207 million 2-mile section of U.S. Route 460 that will extend from near Route 604 to the existing Route 460 in Grundy, with an expected completion date in December. The federal government’s fiscal 2023 spending bill allocated $7 million to VDOT for CFX design and construction, which the state plans to use to widen the 2-mile section to four lanes. Construction is set to start in March and end in December 2023.   

Digging in

As the largest highway construction project in state history, the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion is without question the most notable road project currently underway in Virginia.

Construction began in October 2020, and workers made a lot of progress last year, remaining on track to reach the Virginia Department of Transportation’s goal of a November 2025 finish date. Upon completion, the bridge and tunnel system will have six lanes and four two-lane tunnels on the 9.9-mile Interstate 64 corridor between Norfolk and Hampton. The expansion is designed to reduce congestion, improve access to the Port of Virginia and create more emergency evacuation routes.

Additionally, one mile of I-64 in Hampton and four miles in Norfolk will be widened to include an express lane and a drivable shoulder in each direction that will be variably priced tolled lanes.

Crews will use a $70 million, custom-built tunnel boring machine (TBM) to carve out an underwater path for the tunnels, which will be about 50 feet deeper than the current tunnels. HRBT is the fourth U.S. roadway project to use a TBM. The machine’s front end has a 46-foot-diameter cutterhead that will create an approximately 45-foot-wide opening. The machine, named “Mary” after Mary Winston Jackson, the late NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer depicted in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” was being assembled this spring, with excavation scheduled to start this summer.

Crews nearly doubled the size of North Island and have begun work to build the receiving pit for the TBM. On the South Island, crews are working to excavate down more than 70 feet.

Crews are also working on replacing or rebuilding more than two dozen bridges and have installed hundreds of piles that will form the foundation of new marine trestle bridges.

The project’s design-build contractor is Hampton Roads Connector Partners — a joint venture led by New York-based Dragados USA Inc. and including Vinci Construction, Flatiron Construction Corp. and Vinci subsidiary Dodin Campenon Bernard.

Other major ongoing transportation projects around the commonwealth include:


NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Improve 95, Transform 66 projects

As part of its Improve 95 plan to relieve congestion, the state government entered into a $1 billion public-private partnership with Transurban, an Australian toll-road operations company with its U.S. headquarters in Alexandria. The Fredericksburg Extension (Fred Ex) project will extend Interstate 95 express lanes about 10 miles south to Exit 133 in Stafford County, and Transurban will operate and maintain the lanes and charge variable usage tolls in a contract that extends until 2087. Construction on the $565 million project started in spring 2019.

As of March, the project is running behind its scheduled opening date this year, and the completion date for contracted construction is now set for 2023. Developers say the extension will provide 66% more capacity during peak periods.

Further north, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation and I-66 Express Mobility Partners are working on the $3.7 billion Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which will build 22.5 miles of new express lanes alongside Interstates 66 and 495. The lanes are scheduled to open in December. The project also includes improved bus service and transit routes, expanded park and ride lots, interchange improvements and 11 miles of new bike and pedestrian trails.


SHENANDOAH/ SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Interstate 81 improvements, Coalfields Expressway

The $2.2 billion Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Program consists of 64 planned improvements to the 325-mile corridor from Bristol to Winchester. Focused on safety and reliability, the project includes bridge replacements, ramp extensions, highway widening, curb improvements and additional auxiliary lanes. The program has a 2031 completion date, and improvements are in varying stages. One recently completed project is the replacement of nearly 60-year-old bridges over Reed Creek in Wythe County, which concluded in September 2021.

The Coalfields Expressway (CFX) — U.S. Route 121 — is a proposed 115-mile highway to improve transportation connectivity between Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, boosting commerce and tourism. A 2021 report by Richmond-based Chmura Economics & Analytics estimated the CFX’s cumulative economic impact during a 50-year span would be $12.8 billion in 2021 dollars, based largely on largely on construction spending and new service businesses expected to locate along the route. Seven miles of the expressway overlap U.S. Route 460 and are the only miles of Virginia’s roughly 50-mile portion of the CFX funded so far.

In January, VDOT announced a $207 million agreement to construct a two-mile section of U.S. 460 that will extend from near state Route 604 to the existing Route 460 in Grundy. Construction is expected to begin in late 2022 or early 2023. As for the rest of the expressway, supporters say they need more federal funding. In March, the U.S. House included $1.99 million in its fiscal 2022 federal spending bill, now law, for planning, budgeting and design work on expanding the CFX from Grundy to West Virginia.  

This article has been corrected since publication.

A sampling of Virginia’s major road projects

HAMPTON ROADS
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project

Construction on the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) expansion — the largest highway construction project in Virginia’s history — began in October 2020. The project will widen the four-lane segments of the 9.9-mile Interstate 64 corridor in Norfolk and Hampton to six lanes and create twin two-lane tunnels underwater across the harbor.

Crews will use a $70 million custom-built tunnel boring machine (TBM) to carve out an underwater path for the tunnels. HRBT is the fourth U.S. roadway project to use a TBM. The machine’s front end has a 46-foot-diameter cutterhead that will create an approximately 45-foot-wide opening. The TBM, named “Mary” after Mary Winston Jackson, the late NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer depicted in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” will be assembled and readied to start excavation by mid-2022. The entire project is scheduled for completion in November 2025.

 


NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Improve 95, Transform 66 projects

As part of its Improve 95 plan to relieve congestion, the state government entered into a $1 billion public-private partnership with Transurban, an Australian toll-road operations company with its U.S. headquarters in Alexandria. The Fredericksburg Extension (Fred Ex) project will extend Interstate 95 express lanes about 10 miles south to Exit 133 in Stafford County, and Transurban will operate and maintain the lanes and charge variable usage tolls in a contract that extends until 2087. Construction on the $565 million project started in spring 2019. The project is behind its scheduled opening date for this year. The current schedule is under review, and the completion date for contracted construction is now set for 2023. Developers say the extension will provide 66% more capacity during peak periods.

Further north, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation and I-66 Express Mobility Partners are working on the $3.7 billion Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which will build 22.5 miles of new express lanes alongside interstates 66 and 495. The lanes are scheduled to open in December. The project also includes improved bus service and transit routes, expanded park and ride lots, interchange improvements and 11 miles of new bike and pedestrian trails.


SHENANDOAH/SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Interstate 81 improvements, Coalfields Expressway

The $2.2 billion Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Program consists of 64 planned improvements to the 325-mile corridor from Bristol to Winchester, resulting from a 2018 state study. Focused on safety and reliability, the project includes bridge replacements, ramp extensions, highway widening, curb improvements and additional auxiliary lanes. The program has a 2031 completion date, and improvements are in varying stages. One recently completed project is the replacement of nearly 60-year-old bridges over Reed Creek in Wythe County, which concluded in September 2021.

The Coalfields Expressway — U.S. Route 460/121 — will run through Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia, boosting commerce and tourism. In January, VDOT announced a $207 million agreement to construct a 2-mile section of U.S. 460 that will extend from near Route 604 to the existing Route 460 in Grundy. Construction is expected to begin in late 2022 or early 2023.