April 2026 Edition

It would be easy to think nothing is changing faster than the seasons and weather here in Hampton Roads over the last few months. But at the HRBT Expansion Project, we're doing our best to give Mother Nature a run for her money when it comes to changing quickly.

Contractor crews have completed a much-anticipated shift for eastbound traffic at Bay Avenue to allow the bridge to enter its final stages of construction. Driving across the harbor, multiple cranes are popping up as those bridges, too, look to enter the last chapter in their construction. Make no mistake, the 2026 construction season is fully underway!

April brings multiple colors to the landscape as things warm up, but it also highlights a color near and dear to VDOT: orange! April 20-24 is National Work Zone Awareness Week, when construction professionals across the country call attention to the dangers of work zones and the need for safe driving. 

As you drive our work zones this spring, we ask that you slow down, put down your phones, drive the speed limit, and focus on the road. With both the traveling public and our construction crews doing their part, the HRBT Expansion will move as quickly as possible toward an expanded crossing.

Drive Safe!

Ryan 

Westbound Expansion Work Is Shifting Into High Gear in Norfolk

Construction activity is picking up in westbound lanes across multiple Norfolk work zones. With the majority of eastbound traffic now shifted to new outside lanes, crews have taken advantage of expanded access to the center median area where westbound bridge construction will be performed.

Left: Pile driving continues on Oastes Creek Bridge in Norfolk.

While the public can see pile driving for bridge foundations at Oastes Creek and Bay Avenue overpasses, much of the westbound progress is happening out of view.

Necessary substructure and abutment work at 4th View Street, 13th View Street, and Patrol Road is advancing under the interstate, in preparation for more visible stages of construction, including girder erection, rebar installation, and future deck placement.

With girders in place along Mason Creek and 1st View Bridges, rebar and deck installation are next in the sequence. Deck placement is already complete above Evans St and Bayview Blvd, leaving parapets and the final touches to be completed this spring. 

Crews build new lanes onto the 4th View Street Bridge from the ground up.

Evans Street Bridge takes the lead in landside progress as crews complete the concrete deck placement in early April.

New North Island Operations Center Takes Shape

Previously, the 65-foot-deep launch and receiving pits took center stage as Mary the Tunnel Boring Machine occupied the spaces at the start and conclusion of her time on the project. Now, those very same structures are moving into the next phases of construction, where they will serve an entirely different purpose. 

Capped with structural slabs of concrete, the once-visible pits now serve as foundations for the new and existing tunnels' support buildings. The buildings will provide VDOT tunnel operators with space to support operations on the islands, weld shops for tunnel maintenance, and enclosures that house equipment for critical functions. They are designed for fire suppression, water storage, ventilation, and increased traffic management systems.

Additionally, a new Traffic Operations Center (TOC) will house state-of-the-art technology to monitor real-time traffic. The control room will also manage safety and ventilation systems, environmental conditions in the tunnels, fire detection, and emergency exits. It is also equipped with enhanced communications to coordinate directly with first responders and maintenance crews.

Left: Crews are currently setting forms on North Island for the new Traffic Operations Center's foundation.

Right: Equipped with cameras, sensors, and critical emergency response systems, HRBT's new TOC will resemble existing VDOT traffic management hubs.

Similar to the existing tunnels, HRBT's new twin tunnels require ventilation buildings of

their own to remove exhaust and supply fresh air into the egress corridors.

Other vital functions include regulating airflow and electricity to ensure safe and reliable

electrical distribution. Adjacent to the vent buildings are tide gate houses that encapsulate gates capable of preventing water from entering the tunnel in extreme weather events.  

Construction is underway on both ends of the tubes with crews on South Island installing interior walls and placing rebar for future roof slabs. On North Island, crews are setting the steel foundations for the building's floor slabs and electrical shafts while applying lessons learned from the SI team who have successfully completed the very same operations.

South Island Vent Building - April 2026

North Island Vent Building - April 2026

Egress Corridors-Protected, Reliable Tunnel Safety Feature

An important safety feature in each of the newly bored HRBT tunnels is an egress corridor. In the event of an emergency inside a tunnel, the protected escape route allows a motorist to leave their vehicle and evacuate to a safe corridor adjacent to the roadway which is filled with fresh air. Drivers access the corridor through sliding doors, spaced approximately 300-feet apart, where emergency lighting and signs will direct them to either the North or South Island depending on which facility is closest to where they enter the corridor.

The pathways are designed in accordance with national fire-life safety standards and serve as a barrier from potentially adverse conditions within the tunnel during emergency operations.  

Installation of More Tunnel Safety Features Advances Underground

Inside the HT (high-occupancy tunnel), magnolia-colored fire board protection is currently being installed along the egress wall to protect the tunnel's concrete structure.

With the HT egress structure in place, crews are able to install operating systems necessary to keep the tunnels functioning as designed.  

Trestle Demolition Coexists With Marine Construction

As construction advances on the new HRBT marine trestles, demolition of the existing structures is underway. On the North Trestle, crews are preparing for a future westbound traffic shift by removing sections of the original eastbound bridge. On the southside, the next key milestone is completing demolition of the existing westbound bridge to eventually connect the new South Trestle Bridge to the current westbound tunnel.

Marine trestle demolition demands a more precise approach than land-based deconstruction. Operations must consider marine traffic, nearby bridges carrying traffic, and the marine habitat including aquatic vegetation and wildlife. Here's how crews accomplish it:

Step 1: Preparing and Cutting – Crews start by marking where the deck will be cut, drilling holes for rigging points, and saw-cutting the deck into manageable sections.

Step 3: Breaking Down the Backbone – Hydraulic shears weighing more than 55,000 pounds sever concrete caps and columns in a single stroke, leaving what remains below the mudline to ensure safe navigation.

Step 2: Lifting and Clearing – Cranes lift the cut sections and place them on trucks for transport. Parapets and deck panels are removed next, followed by diaphragms and girders.

Step 4: Repurposing the Concrete – This spring, several thousand tons of the approved demolished concrete bridges will be deposited offshore by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to build up an existing artificial reef.

South Trestle/Island Expansion: Dredging and installation of cofferdam sheet piles continued into April with more concrete slab pours scheduled in May. These coordinated operations will allow crews to construct the permanent ramp that will connect the new eastbound lanes and tunnels.

North Trestle (NT) construction is in full swing as marine crews drive piles, install bent caps, and perform deck work along NT westbound in anticipation of the bridge's opening this summer.

For the past 36 years, John Parkinson has built a professional career as a watchdog for the environment. Whether planning multi-use trails and park improvements, monitoring roadway enhancements, overseeing bridge replacements, erosion and sediment control plans, developing hydrologic facilities for storm management and water equality, or procuring regulatory permits, to name just a few, John has done his environmental due diligence.

The New Jersey native has most recently been appointed environmental manager for VDOT’s oversight team at the HRBT Expansion Project. However, John is no stranger to the HRBT or the unique challenges it faces on a daily basis. John first joined VDOT's team in the fall of 2020 assisting with environmental compliance. His new role puts him at the helm of the agency's efforts to ensure environmental stewardship and permit compliance.

Environmental oversight is his chief responsibility, and “fostering an environment of communication and cooperation with the project’s contractor (HRCP),” Parkinson says, is the approach he prefers to “ensuring the contractor has the tools and support to achieve compliance with complex project permits,” while also being a resource for HRCP’s team.

Parkinson credits a myriad of dedicated environmental professionals on both the VDOT and HRCP teams with supporting each other and the overall environmental goals of the project. He oversees 15 environmental specialists and inspectors, including the project’s bird management team which is tasked with observing and collecting data on dozens of species—mostly migratory birds—that make the North and South Islands their seasonal home in spring and summer. If the birds attempt to nest in construction zones, his team alerts specially trained dogs that redirect the birds to nearby temporary nesting grounds.

The project welcomes John Parkinson in his new role to continue his meaningful impact to the most transformative transportation project in VDOT history.

John (left) and HRBT's crew of bird monitors are back on site full-time as the region's seasonal nesting birds trickle back into Hampton Roads for the summer.

Engineers-in-the-making from Chesapeake Montessori School visited the HRBT Welcome Center in March to learn about cutting-edge tunnel boring technology and more. The fourth, fifth, and sixth grade scholars asked staff the tough questions about project funding, demolition, unexpected discoveries, and environmental impacts of construction.

Find the answers for yourself at the next Open House!

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.

Norfolk hosted 45 attendees from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association’s (IBTTA) Finance Committee on March 29, and their visit included a ride through six of the region’s tunnels, VDOT’s Express Lanes, and a stopover at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) Expansion project for a briefing from Project Director Ryan Banas. The group toured the North Island to learn about technical aspects of expansion work, and they walked into the newly bored HT tunnel. HRBT Expansion Project team members Todd Grifka, Randy Reale, and John Hellman provided technical insight during a tour of the tunnels. 

Early 2026 brought significant progress and new traffic patterns along I-64 in Hampton and Newport News as construction continues on the Hampton Roads Express Lanes (HREL) Newport News Segment.

In late January, crews completed the third and final phase of long-term traffic shifts and lane reductions for bridge rehabilitation near J. Clyde Morris Boulevard (exit 258). This milestone marked the conclusion of phased work that began in spring 2025. All lanes of travel are now open in this section of the corridor.

In February, additional progress followed in Hampton near LaSalle Avenue (exit 265A), where long-term traffic shifts were implemented in both directions. Traffic has been shifted to the newly constructed outside lanes, moving motorists to new pavement while construction activities continue along the inside lanes.

The HREL Newport News Segment extends approximately 11.5 miles, from just east of LaSalle Avenue in Hampton to west of Denbigh Boulevard in Newport News. For most of the corridor, the existing HOV lane in each direction will be converted into an Express Lane alongside three general purpose lanes. Between I-664 and LaSalle Avenue, one general purpose lane in each direction will be converted into an Express Lane, alongside two general purpose lanes. Construction is anticipated to be complete by spring 2027.

To learn more about the Hampton Roads Express Lanes projects and to view the interactive long-term traffic impacts map, visit 64expresslanes.org.

I-64 east traffic shift at LaSalle Avenue (Exit 265A), showing the lane configuration with traffic shifted to the two outside lanes.

I-64 west traffic shift near LaSalle Avenue (Exit 265), showing the lane configuration with traffic shifted to the two outside lanes.