Highways
VDOT Advances Next Project in Hampton Roads Express Lanes Program
Crews are gearing up to build a 45-mile high-occupancy express lanes network in Virginia’s Hampton Roads.
The latest addition to the Virginia Dept. of Transportation’s planned 45-mile high-occupancy express lanes network in the Hampton Roads area will soon be under construction, with award of a $389-million design-build contract to Lane Construction Corp. for the Norfolk Segment-Phase 1B project.
Spanning about seven miles of I-64 between the I-264 and Tidewater Drive interchanges, the project will incorporate a part-time high-occupancy express shoulder lane into the corridor while retaining three east- and westbound general-purpose lanes. Nineteen bridges will be widened and/or rehabilitated, while two structures carrying Chesapeake Boulevard will undergo full replacement. Noise barriers, overhead signage, tolling gantries and roadway widening in spot locations to maintain minimum shoulder width are also part of the project, which is scheduled for completion in late 2029.
Allen Myers is in the final months of a $188-million design-build project to construct the Norfolk express lanes segment’s first phase—a two-mile, between Patrol Road and Tidewater Drive that includes the addition of a part-time shoulder Express Lane in each direction, bridge work on eight existing structures and installation of tolling infrastructure, noise walls and signage
Funding for the express lanes comes from the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, formed to prioritize investments in the densely populated region, and contract with the state DOT to assist in project development and construction. As other sections are added in the coming years, the Hampton Roads Express Lanes network will eventually extend from west of Denbigh Boulevard in Newport News to the I-264/I-664 Bowers Hill interchange in Chesapeake. Two segments are already in operation as 24-hour tolled operations.
Spanning approximately seven miles of I-64 between the I-264 and Tidewater Drive interchanges.
Map courtesy VDOT
Along with the centerpiece $3.9-billion expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, set for completion next year, two other projects in the the commission's planned express lanes network are underway.
The Shirley-Branch Joint Venture is working on a two-mile, $314-million design-build segment in Hampton, scheduled for completion later this year, while Lane Construction is widening and reconfiguring an 11.5-mile segment in Newport News under a $110-million design-build contract. That project is set to finish in 2027.
