/// Accomplishments

■ State of Good Repair – The Virginia Department of Transportation continues to make good progress on rehabilitating aging pavements and bridges across the state. Conditions on interstate and primary roads have exceeded their targets with more than 82 percent of roadway pavement meeting satisfactory inspection results. Bridges on the interstate, primary and secondary systems exceeded their targets as well. This is a multi-billion dollar challenge with nearly 58,000 miles of roadway to maintain, the third largest state-maintained system in the country. State legislation passed this year provides significant dedicated funds to achieve and maintain state of good repair across the Commonwealth.

■ Elizabeth River Tunnels Project – The new tube is well under construction for the Midtown Tunnel in the Hampton Roads region. Built adjacent to the existing Midtown Tunnel, the tube is comprised of 11 concrete elements. The concrete tunnel elements were fabricated in Sparrows Point, Maryland and towed down the Chesapeake Bay for immersion under the Elizabeth River. The new Midtown Tunnel will become the westbound tunnel, carrying traffic from Norfolk to Portsmouth and is scheduled for completion in December 2016.

/// NEW Initiatives

■ Route 29 Solutions – Located near Charlottesville, Virginia, VDOT is delivering a $256 million package of eight highway and bridge improvement projects along the Route 29 corridor that will reduce congestion and improve safety. The package includes three design-build projects that will be delivered through a single contract. The team, including VDOT and the design-builder, is using innovative engineering techniques to minimize impacts to the community and deliver the projects quickly. One project in the design-build contract, the Rio Road grade-separated intersection, will be designed and constructed within twenty-two months with the vast majority of construction occurring within a three-month period.

■ Transform 66 – Improvements are proposed to ease congestion on one of the most congested roadways in the country. The project area is a 25-mile stretch of I-66 from U.S. Route 15 in Haymarket to the I-495 (Capital Beltway) in Northern Virginia. Proposed improvements include two express or high occupancy toll (HOT) and three regular lanes in each direction, along with high-frequency bus service and direct access between the express lanes and new or expanded commuter lots. The dynamically-tolled express lanes would provide a more reliable trip, and be free to vehicles traveling with three or more occupants including buses. Construction of the project is slated to begin in 2017 with the lanes opening in 2020, followed by overall completion in 2021.

/// Accomplishments

■ I-64 Widening on the Peninsula – The I-64 Widening Project in Newport News will provide immediate congestion relief to the roadway corridor. The $122 million project will widen 5.6 miles of the heavily traveled interstate from four to six lanes. The wider and better designed roadway will ease congestion and greatly improve safety by providing more lanes for evacuation. This 5.6 mile corridor ties into an eight-lane interstate system to the east and is currently the most congested section of the I-64 Peninsula corridor.