NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — As Mary the tunnel boring machine gets disassembled, people from Hampton, Newport News, and other parts of the region got to swing by a Virginia Department of Transportation office to see exactly how the tunnels were bored.
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The no trespassing sign was temporarily meaningless Wednesday. Curious locals whose tax dollars helped fund the $3.9 billion project learned about the engineering marvel that made it all happen.
“If you’re staggering the long side and the short side, then you can go straight,” said VDOT assistant resident engineer Lion Nitschke. “That’s what allowing you to make the curve, steer the machine, all with the same rings. So the rings are exactly the same, but the way that you’re installing them is what’s determining tunnel alignment.”
Nitschke showed them how the tunnel rings are installed by this train-like behemoth. 10 On Your Side was there when Mary made her final breakthrough — digging out the second new tunnel.
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“So right now, the big focus is to get it disassembled,” Nitschke said. “So it’s getting broken down into parts the same way it came in, and then it’s getting loaded out and sent back to Germany to be remanufactured.”…