The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion – USA

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion is the largest highway construction project in Virginia’s history. This transformative undertaking will widen the current four-lane segments along nearly ten miles of the I-64 corridor in Norfolk and Hampton, with new twin tunnels across the harbor. The expansion will increase capacity, ease major congestion, and enhance travel time reliability. Including the construction contract and owner’s costs, the project’s total budget is over $3.9 billion, making it one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country.

Sixense’s Monitoring Work

The primary challenge faced in the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion involved conducting Sixense’s operations without causing disruptions to the continuous traffic flow on the highways and the islands. The objective was to ensure the safety of both the traveling public and the job operators.

By closely collaborating with the design and construction teams at Hampton Roads Connector Partners (HRCP), Sixense implemented various Structural and Geotechnical monitoring systems tailored to each ongoing activity, such as pile driving, support of excavation, island expansions, tunnel convergence monitoring, and more.

Thanks to Sixense’s specialized devices, the system achieved the required high spatial density and high-frequency monitoring. This minimized interruptions to existing highway traffic and eliminated the need for manual readings in areas with heavy traffic.

All monitoring data was consolidated into a single Integrated Database Management System (IDMS) called Geoscope, which provided interactive graphs for the instruments and managed automated alarms and reports.

Monitoring Network for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion

Sixense’s team deployed over 5,000 sensors that utilized distinct technologies, addressing various requirements such as:

• Inclinometers (50+)
• Piezometers (60+)
• Several types of Extensometers (60+)
• Crack and strain gauges (220+)
• Tiltmeters (200+)
• Distance Laser Tiltmeters (300+)
• Vibration sensors (60)
• Tide level sensors
• Automated Motorized Total Station AMTS (45)
• Survey Prisms (4,500+)