Elizabeth River Tunnels Project

Cars driving through a well-lit tunnel with ventilation fans and traffic signals.

Highlights

ENR

Best Highway/Bridge

ACEC Virginia

Engineering Excellence Grand Award

DBIA

Award of Excellence

136,602 cubic yards

of concrete

Project information

The project developed, designed and constructed a new two-lane, 3,770-foot tunnel under Virginia’s Elizabeth River parallel to the existing Midtown Tunnel. Work included maintenance and life-safety improvements to the existing Midtown Tunnel and two downtown tunnels, as well as extending the MLK Expressway.

Client:

Virginia Department of Transportation

Service:

General Contractor

Market segment:

Bridges, Tunnels

Size:

Start date:

Completion date:

City:

Portsmouth

State:

Virginia

Country:

USA

Cost:

$1,490,440,154

Behind the build

The Elizabeth River Tunnels Project involved five distinct areas of construction, and was one of the largest greenfield/brownfield transportation public/private partnerships in U.S. history and the largest undertaken by Virginia.

Crane lowering a large concrete structure into an underwater excavation site for construction.

Step by step

Explore how we submerged 16,000-ton segments to create Virginia’s Elizabeth River Tunnel.

See the steps it took to deliver the ERT project

Tunneling beneath the Elizabeth

Comprising 11 hollow segment elements, the new tunnel was the first deep-water, concrete-immersed tube tunnel in North America and the second all-concrete tunnel in the U.S.

Large industrial ship docked at a harbor with clear blue water and surrounding pier.

Contact

Infrastructure
Stephen Skippen
Vice President, Business Development & Operations - Mid Atlantic

Stephen wearing a navy blazer and light pink button-up shirt against a plain background.

Infrastructure

Stephen Skippen

Vice President, Business Development & Operations - Mid Atlantic