January 2026 Edition

2026 is off to a great start as work continues through the entire project corridor spanning Hampton to Norfolk. Many have noticed the new pavement in the I-64 median in Hampton, impressive strides in the median along the corridor south of Willoughby Spit, and the very recent traffic switch to the rehabilitated structure at Patrol Road. These are just a few of the many accomplishments Hampton Roads Connector Partners have made in the first month of 2026.

As we continue to prepare the HRBT Expansion Project for its most momentous year yet, don’t look too far ahead. With the climate of Hampton Roads we never know what might be thrown at us. Rain, sleet, or that other favorite type of accumulating precipitation! Please be mindful of road conditions and appreciate bridges and overpasses will freeze sooner than roadways.

Nearly one month into the new year, if your resolutions have failed don’t worry, we’ve got one you can pick up anytime. Put down your phones, focus on the road, and drive for the conditions!

Thank you,

Ryan

Meaningful milestones marked the project's 2025 calendar year, and they stretched the length of the HRBT Expansion Project footprint. Check out our 2025 Year in Review to view our progress and meet the people who made it all happen.

In December, crews completed disassembly, lifting, and load out of the TBM's main drive.

Mary’s work in Hampton Roads is complete, but her story is far from over. Since November 2025 when her 500-ton cutterhead was successfully lifted out of the receiving pit, rotated 90 degrees, and laid flat atop South Island, crews have been preparing for the TBM’s return trip to Germany.



Hampton Roads Connector Partner's (HRCP) to-do list prior to sendoff included separating the cutterhead into thirteen sections to be welded back together for the TBM’s next assignment. Removal of the remaining shield segments from the receiving pit was accomplished this month with the help of two industrial grade cranes. Next, crews will prepare a pulling system to extract Mary’s trailing gantries from inside the new eastbound general purpose (GP) tunnel.

Mary's return trip is a coordinated effort by land and sea. TBM components are loaded onto trucks and barges from South Island for shipment to Baltimore, Maryland where 175 bulk pieces of the deconstructed TBM will be staged, packed, and prepared for shipment across the Atlantic Ocean.

While some parts may be modified or replaced to meet the needs of the future project, major components of the TBM will be cleaned, refurbished, and reassembled to bore another tunnel in Europe.

Project Myth & Fact UPDATE

HRBT Tunnel Talk Podcast

Topping the list of our record tunneling accomplishments in 2025 was Mary The TBM’s final breakthrough at the South Island. It marked completion of mining of the twin tunnels. Project Director Ryan Banas and VDOT's tunnel expert Lion Nitschke share details of Mary’s high-profile performance and discuss her future in the latest edition of HRBT Tunnel Talk.

New Permanent Structures and Systems Emerge in Mary's Shadow

As Mary's crews prepare the cutterhead, shield, and gantries for shipping, tunnel interior crews are hard at work on the region's newest underwater roadways.

General purpose (GP) tunnel crews are shown installing reinforcing steel to give shape to L-walls that help form the tunnel's egress corridor. They'll use formwork to set the next section of concrete.

Crews begin the work of installing the final finishes along the roadway that motorists and passengers will see as they travel through the new tubes.  

Interior crews have installed the reinforced concrete drainage pipe in the high occupancy tunnel (HT) that will collect runoff from the tunnel's roadway and transport it to the low-point pump station.

After installing the drainage pipe, crews backfilled the area and began using concrete and formwork to construct a traffic barrier.

Crews Continue Driving Piles for Bridge Work Expansion

Building a bridge over a busy harbor while traffic also continues to flow in close proximity requires more than concrete and steel. The complex operation relies on a network of temporary systems to make marine construction possible.

Pile driving continues in Cell 2 of the South Island cofferdam.

Concrete placement for the tremie slab will give crews a dry foundation for the new ramp.

Critical to the marine crew’s mission is the cofferdam. Built from interlocking steel piles, cofferdams create a protected, dry work zone in the water, giving crews safe access to areas that would otherwise be submerged. Inside these enclosures, ramp structures are formed using concrete piles driven deep into the harbor floor and tied together by concrete slabs. Rock is then placed around the perimeter to create a retaining wall that helps shield the structure from waves and currents.

In Cell 1 of the cofferdam, crews have driven 240 piles (100% complete), and in Cell 2 they have driven 40 of 129 piles (31% complete). Over the coming weeks, crews will integrate another component into Cell 1. This month a tremie slab was poured to limit groundwater from entering the construction area where crews build a permanent ramp connecting the new eight-lane mega-trestle to the South Island.

Another key support system is the temporary trestles. These elevated work bridges serve as staging areas for construction equipment, including piles and cranes. The temporary structures are visible near bridges that link tunnels at the Hampton and Norfolk shorelines. They snake through current work zones and provide critical paths for construction crews and the traveling public.

Bridge Progress on Both Ends of the Project

Crews complete Mallory Street Bridge deck.

December - 2025

New lanes open on I-64 east near Patrol Road. January 2026

Progress continues at both ends of the corridor, with the bookend bridges advancing toward major landside milestones. Crews initiated the first permanent traffic shift of the year onto new eastbound lanes at Patrol Road in Norfolk on Sunday, January 11. This shift, along with opening more lanes at Oastes Creek Bridge, marks 95 percent completion of the landslide crew’s eastbound expansion work. With only a few spans left to install at Bay Avenue, crews expect to finish this phase by spring 2026.

Also scheduled to open this spring is the second half of the new Mallory Street Bridge. New decks are in place, and work continues on installing new sidewalk and safety barriers.

Mary The TBM still has a story to tell, and our doors remain open at the HRBT Welcome Center to share her historic mission with the public in 2026. Open House dates are set, and community engagement dates are filling up fast!  If your civic league, civic organization, scouting troop, homeschool organization, school group, youth group, or summer camp would like to visit the Welcome Center and learn about VDOT’s newly bored tunnels, artifacts excavated during construction, and history of tunneling in Hampton Roads, please reach out to us soon!

Send us your request and what hours you would like to visit between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Plan two hours per visit. Group visits of 10-30 individuals can be accommodated. 

Email: HRBTInfo@vdot.virginia.gov with your request.

Connected by social media, nearly 200 guests representing the Hampton Roads home school community visited the Welcome Center since December 2025.

The Welcome Center is one of the region's popular attractions for families from Hampton Roads and beyond. (Left) A Virginia Beach family stopped into the December Open House while preparing for the holiday season. (Right) A Richmond family kicked off the new year with a day of enrichment in Norfolk, making the HRBT Welcome Center their first stop.

Mark your calendars for the upcoming HRBT Expansion Welcome Center Open House through June 2026: 

Sunday, February 8: 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Wednesday, March 11: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sunday, April 12: 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Wednesday, May 6: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Saturday, June 13: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The HRBT Welcome Center is located at 9401 4th View Street, Norfolk, VA 23503.

Thank you to all who supported Welcome Center efforts in 2025. Through the bi-monthly Open House events alone, Team HRBT hosted nearly 600 guests. The total visitor count for the year surpassed 1,600 residents, students, and even tourists!

In construction, success is usually measured by visible progress. For Josh Gormer, VDOT’s Construction Manager for the HRBT Expansion, success is characterized by everyday solutions to complex challenges.

Originally from the Frederick, Maryland area, Gormer grew up with a natural curiosity about how things work. As the son of a physics major and a math major, equations and problem-solving came easily. That, paired with his childhood interests in cars and dirt, made transportation construction a natural career fit. He earned his civil engineering degree from Virginia Tech, where his passions crossed paths with an opportunity to intern with the Maryland State Highway Administration. The experience solidified his trajectory toward construction management.

After graduation, Gormer began his engineering career as an inspector assessing roads and bridges in the private sector. Since then, he has contributed to infrastructure improvements along the East Coast. While HRBT is his most historic assignment, it is not Gormer’s first rodeo on a major project. Over the course of his 25-year career, he has worked on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Program, the I-95 Express Lanes, the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Program, and Segments 1 and 2 of the I-64 Peninsula Widening before joining Team HRBT.

Initially brought on as the resident engineer for landside construction during the project’s design phase, Gormer has served as Construction Manager since 2021. Today, he provides guidance to resident engineers across all eight construction areas. His role gives him a project-wide perspective, allowing him to ensure work meets project requirements while helping resolve issues as they arise. With so many moving parts in his purview, he often serves as a conduit for bridging teams, disciplines, and decisions together.

Gormer credits his impact to years of hands-on experience on large-scale projects, his calm demeanor, and a commitment to fairness. Having worked in every position represented on his current staff allows him to understand challenges from every angle and respond with the efficiency and empathy needed to reach project-wide solutions.

Outside of work, Gormer enjoys spending time outdoors, especially hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He and his wife of 25 years are the proud parents of two children, one in college and the other a recent college graduate. Looking to the future, Gormer embraces the idea of continuing to learn and grow professionally on the next big project.

There’s new leadership in the VDOT Hampton Roads District with the December 2025 retirement of Chris Hall who led the Hampton Roads District for more than seven years and oversaw one of the largest and most geographically unique VDOT districts.

Stepping in as the District Engineer (DE), which includes oversight of the HRBT Expansion project is Michael Davis, P.E. who served as VDOT’s Deputy District Engineer for Development and Delivery in Hampton Roads prior to Hall’s retirement.

Davis has more than 36 years of experience in the transportation industry and nearly two decades of service to VDOT. He leads a team of nearly 900 state employees and contract staff and manages more than $5 billion in contracts representing nearly 26 percent of VDOT’s statewide construction program.

A licensed professional engineer in Virginia and North Carolina, Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology from Old Dominion University and is a Certified Construction Manager. He is also a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute and the Commonwealth Management Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The Hampton Roads District spans nine counties, 11 cities, and two islands, covering 4,125 square miles of coastal and inland infrastructure, including the Commonwealth’s only state-operated, 24-hour ferry system.

The month of December brought with it a pair of long-term traffic shifts along I-64 as part of construction of the Hampton Roads Express Lanes (HREL) in Hampton and Norfolk.

The HREL Hampton Segment project closed out 2025 with a new traffic pattern on I-64 east and west between Mallory Street (exit 268) and Settlers Landing Road/Woodland Road (exit 267), as travel lanes have been shifted to the right, from the inside lanes to the outside lanes.

The first phase of the HREL Norfolk Segment projects also featured a traffic shift with westbound traffic on I-64 between Tidewater Drive (exit 277B) and Little Creek Road (exit 276C) shifting to the right, from the inside lanes to the outside lanes.

Both long-term traffic shifts are anticipated to remain in place until mid-2026 to provide for work in the inside lanes for each project.

To learn more about the Hampton Roads Express Lanes network, visit www.64expresslanes.org. 

Long-term traffic shifts on I-64 in Hampton (left) and Norfolk (right) for HREL construction