NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Though you can see the cranes, construction equipment and the bridgework as you drive up and down Interstate 64 through the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel area, what you can’t see is just as important.
Intricate work is being done 65 feet below the road surface as part of the nearly $4 billion expansion project , the largest in Virginia history, that will widen the highway in both directions with the hope of mitigating traffic between the Southside and the Peninsula.
In an aerial photo, the Virginia Department of Transportation explains what is happening below the surface — Mary the tunnel boring machine sitting “with its cutterhead flush against the headwall, and most of her trailing aligned and in position” for the second round, a twin tunnel to be mined toward Norfolk.
Back in June, Mary, which does all the digging work to create tunnels, finished her last ring to support the newest eastbound tunnel. From that point, crews have been working to ensure she’s ready for her next mission — digging the second new eastbound tunnel, which is expected to begin sometime this fall.