These models were made for SKW Constructors, a joint venture of Skanska, Kiewit, and Weeks Marine – the design-build contractor for the Elizabeth River Tunnels Project in the Hampton Roads Region of Virginia.
U.S. 58, the route between the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk Virginia via a tunnel under the Elizabeth River, is the busiest 2-lane route east of the Mississippi. Since the existing Midtown Tunnel was built 50 years ago, population in the region has increased nearly 70 percent and tunnel usage has gone up by almost 600 percent. Additional capacity is urgently needed. The Elizabeth River Tunnels project – which will deliver a major increase in vehicle traffic capacity on the route in late 2016 – is a public-private partnership (P3) project involving the Virginia Department of Transportation (the project owner), the Elizabeth River Crossing OpCo LLC (the project concessionaire), and SKW Constructors (the project design-build contractor).
The Elizabeth River Tunnels Project includes:* The construction and operation of a new two-lane tunnel under the Elizabeth River adjacent to the existing Midtown Tunnel
* Significant rehabilitation – including fire-life safety improvements – to the existing Downtown Tunnels and Midtown Tunnel
* Extension of the existing MLK Freeway in Portsmouth to provide a direct link between I-264 and the Downtown Tunnels and U.S. 58 and the Midtown Tunnels
* Complete operations and maintenance responsibilities for the existing and new Elizabeth River Tunnels
