Advertise on podcast: HRBT Tunnel Talk

Mary, The Tunnel Boring Machine arrived with fanfare, performed flawlessly, and is preparing to head home to Germany. Mary's successful mission is a 2025 crowning achievement for the HRBT Expansion Project. In today's installment of HRBT Tunnel Talk, project personnel revisit her milestones in delivering twin bored tunnels for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

There's a new bridge in town! November ushered in the opening of the South Trestle superstructure spanning between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Norfolk shoreline. To learn more about the new mega trestle, click on the latest HRBT Tunnel Talk podcast here:

Ron Brown keeps an eye on the HRBT Expansion Project in Virginia each month through the lens of one of his three cameras. Tune in to HRBT Tunnel Talk to learn more about how he brings the project into focus for project personnel and the public.

The HRBT Welcome Center is rolling out the welcome mat to school-age children attending summer camps across Hampton Roads. Students are enjoying STEM and project-related learning from HRBT Expansion staff.

Sunshine, surf and favorite eating spots bring more than just tourists to Hampton Roads from April through September. That's when nesting, state-threatened and migratory birds are active in and around the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. For five years, bird monitors have been on duty to make sure the birds and the commonwealth's largest construction project can peacefully co-exist. Learn more about the monitors' work in the latest edition of HRBT TUNNEL TALK.

Sean Johnson has a keen eye out for movement and unforeseen changes at the HRBT Expansion Project. In this installment of HRBT Tunnel Talk, hear Sean explain how he relies on "invisible" measurements to help detect changes in and around the construction environment.

She recently got a BIG BOOST to help her complete a new twin tunnel. Listen to find out where Mary is Now.

National Engineers Week in February celebrates the amazing accomplishments of talented men and women who improve the quality of our lives. The HRBT Expansion Project that includes many talented engineers. In this edition of HRBT Tunnel Talk, we meet four individuals transforming transportation in Virginia.

Barges, tugs, boats and bridges. The HRBT Expansion Project team coordinates it all. And the Team brings an impressive portfolio of experience to the project, including work in New York City, post 9-11. Learn more about managing the maritime works of the expansion project in the latest installment of HRBT Tunnel Talk.

A new bridge-tunnel project like the HRBT Expansion starts with environmental permitting. And for this project, there are more than 22 permits that require various levels of approval and constant monitoring. That responsibility for VDOT falls with Larissa Ambrose, the project's environmental manager. In this edition of HRBT Tunnel Talk, we learn from Larissa about the many challenges of her job.

The HRBT Expansion Project is rolling out the welcome mat to the public. The project has an official Welcome Center which will soon be open for STEM learning, community engagement and meetings, tunnel history and more! Tune into HRBT Tunnel Talk for details on what you can expect to find at the HRBT Welcome Center.

HRBT Expansion Project Communications Director Paula Miller is joined by Project Director Ryan Banas, VDOT District Engineer Chris Hall, and HRTAC Executive Director Kevin Page on this episode that provides an overview of the Hampton Roads Express Lanes (HREL) network, a continuous 45-mile network of Express Lanes on I-64, extending from west of Denbigh Boulevard in Newport News to the I-264/I-664 Bowers Hill interchange in Chesapeake, providing enhanced travel options to accommodate the future transportation needs of the Hampton Roads region.

HRBT Expansion Project Communications Director Paula Miller is joined by Project Director Ryan Banas for an update on the project, along with archeological experts David Lewes, Co-Director of William and Mary's Center for Archeological Research, Adam Pritchard, Virginia Museum of Natural History's Assistant Curator of Paleontology, and Will Moore, Virginia Department of Transportation's Lead Archeologist. Learn about the historic and prehistoric finds, from shipwrecks to mastadon bones.

Project Director Ryan Banas joins Communications Manager Paula Miller to share the milestones achieved on the project this spring. VDOT Construction Engineer Lion Nitschke discusses tunneling progress for Virginia's first bored roadway tunnel and the process of turning the TBM around to start the second tunnel.

To celebrate International Day for Women in Maritime, the latest episode of HRBT Tunnel Talk features two project engineers, Linh Do and Sophia O'Brien, to talk about island expansion and bridge rehabilitation, while Project Director Ryan Banas provides an update on the project.