HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — The completion date of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion has been pushed back by about 18 months, according to a news release from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The comprehensive agreement for the project, which included financial incentives for completing the project on schedule, was revised to accommodate unforeseen circumstances that led to delays.
News
HRBT Expansion Project now over 50-percent done, but project is behind schedule
The new "substantial completion" date has been set for Feb. 26, 2027, with a final completion date of Aug. 27, 2027.
Substantial completion means that's when you'll be able to use the tunnel but there will still be some construction in the area.
Final means there's no more construction in the area.
However, the project could be completed sooner.
The contractor has an early completion incentive of $90 million if substantial completion is finished by September 2026.
“VDOT, in partnership with HRCP [Hampton Roads Connector Partners], is determined to deliver a world-class infrastructure project for the Hampton Roads region as efficiently and safely as possible,” said Christopher Hall, VDOT’s Hampton Roads district engineer. “A tremendous amount of work has been accomplished to date. HRCP has achieved a multitude of unprecedented milestones to include constructing the 15-acre expansion of the North Island, reassembling the second largest tunnel boring machine in North America, completing the largest continuous concrete pour in VDOT history, and boring and building nearly 90% of the first of the two new tunnels.”
Hall said because of the unique project, there have been a lot of first-time happenings between Norfolk and Hampton.
For example, it's the first time a tunnel of this size is being constructed between two man-made islands using this technology.
Hall said excavating the launch pits has been a challenge in itself.
"These pits are literally a football field in size 60 to 80 feet in the ground," Hall said. "So you can envision just the engineering challenges of digging an excavation deep in the middle of the James River."
The good news is that progress is continuing to be made.
"In the next couple of weeks we're going to be breaking through on the first of two of the bored tunnels so we'll have one tunnel complete," Hall said. "That's a highlight and a milestone as well as opening up the first of our trusses that will carry traffic from Hampton to the North Island which will be the Eastbound traffic."
Revisions to the comprehensive agreement allow for the project to be completed "nearly" within the original budget of $3.9 billion, according to a VDOT news release.
