Eight-lane widening with HOV lanes, was completed in July 2006, on the 10.7 miles of I-64 from 0.5 mile west of Bland Boulevard in Newport News, to the I-664 westerly ramps with I-64 in Hampton. There were earlier I-64 widening projects to the east of the current projects, to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), and future I-64 widening projects are planned to the west of the current projects, to Richmond. The I-64 highway and these projects are administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).

The four widening projects on the 10.7 mile segment of I-64 described above, have been completed to eight lanes, with the easternmost project completed in July 2006. In December 2001, two new HOV-2 lanes, one eastbound and one westbound, opened on the 7.6-mile-long section of I-64 between near the Bland Boulevard overpass and Hampton Roads Center Parkway, thus adding new 7th and 8th lanes to the new 5th and 6th lanes that were opened earlier in 2001. By July 2006, the HOV lanes were extended to I-664. The inside lane each way on this 10.7 miles of I-64 are concurrent flow HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes that are HOV-2 during peak morning and evening weekday hours. So three lanes each way are general purpose lanes open to all motor vehicle traffic at all times, and the inside lane each way is HOV-2 (each vehicle must have at least two people) during peak periods and is open to all traffic during non-peak times.

The final 2.5-mile-long I-64 widening project between Hampton Roads Center Parkway and I-664, the Coliseum Central Project, was placed under construction in June 2001 and was completed in July 2006, and it included major expansion to the US-258 Mercury Boulevard interchange, and it added one lane each way to the I-64 highway which was formerly three lanes each way, and the new lanes are on the inside of each roadway and have the same HOV-2 peak period restrictions as described above. Actually, including auxiliary lanes added on the right of each I-64 roadway, the I-64 highway has 10 lanes (5 each way) between Hampton Roads Center Parkway and VA-134 Magruder Boulevard, 12 lanes (6 each way) between Magruder Boulevard and US-258 Mercury Boulevard, and 10 lanes (5 each way) between Mercury Boulevard and I-664. I-64 is a very wide highway in that segment.

All four of these projects include full 10-foot paved emergency shoulders on the right and left sides of each roadway.

Virginia HOV Lane Systems

The Peninsula is the third region in Virginia to get HOV lanes, after Northern Virginia (1969) and South Hampton Roads (1992). The Peninsula HOV lanes are designated as HOV-2 lanes for vehicles carrying two or more people, as well as buses, motorcycles and emergency vehicles. "The Peninsula" is the regional name for the peninsular segment of land between the James River, the York River, and Chesapeake Bay, and it includes the areas of Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, York County and part of James City County. Due to the high directional split of peak traffic, the HOV lanes in Northern Virginia and in South Hampton Roads, operate in a single peak period direction. On the Peninsula, the HOV hours of operation are from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in both directions, Monday through Friday. After analyzing traffic volumes and patterns, VDOT determined that the HOV hours of operation apply in both directions during both peak periods due to the approximately equal distribution of traffic eastbound and westbound. The HOV lanes are open to all motorists during all other hours of the day and on weekends. Similar to the HOV lanes on I-264 in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, these lanes are not barrier separated, allowing motorists to easily merge on and off the lanes at any time.

Recent I-64 Widening Projects in Newport News and Hampton

A set of I-64 widening projects in Newport News, was completed in December 2001. The total mainline length was 4.2 miles, from 0.5 mile west of Bland Boulevard to 0.3 mile east of US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard, and the cost for engineering, right-of-way and construction, was $87.2 million. The existing four-lane (two each way) Interstate highway was widened to eight lanes (four each way), with replacement of existing pavement and existing mainline bridges. The existing interchanges at VA-143 Jefferson Avenue and US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard were upgraded. A concrete median barrier was installed. Collector-distributor roadways were added at the VA-143 Jefferson Avenue interchange. One new lane each way was opened in June 2001, making the highway six lanes (three each way). The fourth lane each way opened on December 17, 2001, as an HOV-2 lane.

The plan since these projects were conceived in the mid-1980s, had been to widen to eight lanes the 10.7 miles of I-64, from 1/2 mile west of Bland Boulevard in Newport News, to the I-664 interchange in Hampton, with three general purpose lanes each way and a fourth inner lane each way for HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) during peak hours.

The 2.7 miles of four-lane I-64 from 0.9 mile east of VA-143 Jefferson Avenue to 0.3 mile east of US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard, was widened to eight lanes with a 22-foot-wide grass median, with completion in early 1999, with six lanes open to traffic and the inner lane each way striped off as closed. The inner shoulders were built as grassed earth. The two projects on this section cost $36.8 million for engineering, right-of-way and construction. [2]

The project completed in 2001 involved widening 1.5 miles of I-64 four-lane highway to eight lanes, from 0.5 mile west of Bland Boulevard to 0.9 mile east of VA-143 Jefferson Avenue. It also performed the interchange improvements at VA-143 Jefferson Avenue and US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard. It also paved the median and installed a concrete median barrier on the 2.7-mile section mentioned in the previous paragraph. This project cost $50.4 million for engineering, right-of-way and construction. [1]

The 10.7 miles of I-64 from 0.5 mile west of Bland Boulevard in Newport News to I-664 in Hampton, as of June 2001, had six mainline lanes open throughout (and the rest of I-64 from I-664 to near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel [HRBT] was six lanes too). The 4.2 miles discussed above had eight lanes with the inner lane each way initially closed as said. The 6.5 miles between there and I-664 had six lanes, and a 4.0 mile long project from 0.3 mile east of US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard to 0.4 mile east of Hampton Roads Center Parkway, was begun in 1999 to widen the highway to eight lanes, with completion occurring in December 2001 at a cost is $15.6 million for engineering, right-of-way and construction. [3] That project joins the eight lane section just west of there, leaving only one project left in the program to make the entire 10.7 mile section of I-64 eight lanes wide. Those western 7.6 miles had the fourth lane each way opened on December 17, 2001. The final project widened 2.5 miles of six-lane highway to eight lanes, from 0.4 mile east of Hampton Roads Center Parkway to the I-664 westerly ramps with I-64; and it was placed under construction in June 2001, and was completed in July 2006, with a total cost of $106.5 million for construction. The final project included a major upgrade to the full cloverleaf interchange of I-64 and US-258 Mercury Boulevard, which included two new semi-directional flyover ramps. [4]

As cited in other Roads to the Future articles, freeway HOV lanes not only provide fast travel for car pools and van pools during peak hours, but also provide an open uncongested lane for express bus mass transit. The HOV person occupancy threshold can be increased in the future if the lane at the existing threshold becomes congested, and the time span of HOV operation can be increased if the peak hours expand and begin to congest these lanes during bordering time periods currently outside of the HOV restrictions.

Summary of Recent I-64 Widening Projects

Again, as outlined above, these are the project sections of the 10.7 miles of I-64 eight-lane widening that was completed in July 2006, from west of Bland Boulevard in Newport News, to the I-664 interchange in Hampton. The sections are listed in sequence from west to east, with footnote references to text above ---

Past I-64 Widening Projects in Hampton

The 4.0-mile-long section from 0.3 mile east of US-17 J Clyde Morris Boulevard to 0.4 mile east of Hampton Roads Center Parkway, was widened from four lanes to six lanes in two projects. The 2.0 miles from west of Hampton Roads Center Parkway (the HRCP/I-64 interchange was built then) to Magruder Boulevard was completed in 1990; and the 2.0 miles from east of US-17 to west of HRCP was completed in 1995. [3] Since this was part of the 10.7 miles that was planned to be eight-laned since the mid-1980s, Roads to the Future doesn't know why these projects weren't eight-laned -- as mentioned above, that very section was widened from six lanes to eight lanes, with completion in December 2001. It is true that the fourth lane each way would not have been initially usable since the planned eight-lane projects west and east of there had not been started, but the fourth lanes could have been initially striped as closed as was done on the more recent projects west of there.

Hampton Roads Center Parkway (HRCP) is a 4-lane limited access highway that extends 5.0 miles from US-17 Jefferson Avenue in Newport News to Armistead Avenue in Hampton. The 2.8 miles of the Hampton Roads Center Parkway from Big Bethel Road to Armistead Avenue was completed when the I-64/HRCP interchange was completed in 1995. The 2.2-mile last section of Hampton Roads Center Parkway was completed in Newport News in January 2003, and it extended the 4-lane parkway westward to US-17 Jefferson Avenue. Actually, a 6-lane widening of one mile of Harpersville Road was utilized to carry the westernmost mile of the parkway to Jefferson Avenue. HRCP has a continuous roadway connection with Harpersville Road. The planning name for the Hampton Roads Center Parkway was the East-West Expressway, with plans to extend it as far west as US-17 Jefferson Avenue and Harpersville Road, and as far east as VA-169 Fox Hill Road in Hampton (the 4-mile-long unbuilt HRCP segment east of Armistead Avenue is not programmed in the FY2005-06 VDOT Six Year Improvement Program, and it faces major environmental obstacles due to wetlands).

The 6.5-mile-long section of I-64 in Hampton from just west of Magruder Boulevard to VA-143 Mallory Street (just west of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel) was widened from four lanes to six lanes much earlier, constructed in sections from 1979 to 1988. This widening included building a parallel 3-lane bridge over the Hampton River for westbound I-64 mainline traffic, rebuilding the pre-existing 4-lane bridges over the Hampton River for 3-lane eastbound I-64 mainline traffic, the realignment and straightening of 1/2 mile of mainline I-64 in the VA-143 Mallory Street interchange area to remove two sharp 45 mph curves, and other interchange improvements. The first of these widening projects was the one mile of I-64 that was widened in conjunction with the construction of the I-664 interchange built 1979-1981. The I-64/I-664 interchange and 1.2 miles of I-664 in Hampton was completed and opened on June 25, 1981, and the first widening project on I-64 of one mile in the I-664 interchange area was part of that project. That section of I-664 was also the first segment of I-664 to be built. The last segment of I-64 to be widened in this program was at the Hampton River, which was completed in 1988. The existing traffic volumes on I-64 and the volumes projected on I-64 due the ultimate completion of I-664, were the reason for the widening program on the section of I-64 from Magruder Boulevard to VA-143 Mallory Street.

The I-64 toll plaza for the HRBT was just east of Mallory Street, and it was removed when the HRBT became toll-free in 1976.

Future I-64 Widening Projects between Newport News and Richmond

A new I-64 interchange is being planned at Bland Boulevard near the Williamsburg - Newport News International Airport. One of the designs considered is a SPUI (Single Point Urban Interchange). This new interchange and its connecting roads will provide better local access to/from I-64 as well as direct I-64 access to/from the airport, which is seeing continual growth in airline traffic. The cost is estimated at $70 to $80 million for engineering, right-of-way and construction, but the construction is not scheduled in the FY2005-06 VDOT Six Year Improvement Program.

Preliminary engineering is underway for widening on I-64 west of the current Newport News projects, all the way to VA-156 Airport Drive in the Richmond area, since this highway has begun experiencing significant peak-period congestion in the last few years, and traffic volumes continue to grow. All of the current I-64 highway on that stretch is four lanes (two each way) and some of the widened sections will be six lanes (three each way) and some will be eight lanes (four each way).

The current tentative plan is to widen the I-64 highway to eight lanes (four each way) from the current western limit of eight-lane widening near the Bland Boulevard overpass area in Newport News, to VA-199 Humelsine Parkway east of Williamsburg (the eastern I-64/VA-199 interchange, I-64 Exit 242), with a similar configuration to the recently widened highway, with three general purpose lanes each way and a fourth inner lane each way for HOV-2 during peak hours. No I-64 HOV lanes are planned west of the eastern I-64/VA-199 interchange. The current tentative plan is to widen I-64 to 6 lanes between VA-199 east of Williamsburg, and VA-249 at Bottoms Bridge in New Kent County; to widen I-64 to 8 lanes between VA-249 and I-295 in Henrico County, and to widen I-64 to 6 lanes between I-295 and VA-156 Airport Drive. Construction is not scheduled on any of these projects in the FY2005-06 VDOT Six Year Improvement Program. I-64 is currently 6 lanes between I-95 in downtown Richmond and VA-156.

I-64 Traffic Volumes and Original Openings

Links to VDOT's Website on I-64 Widening Projects

Sources

Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) , VDOT FY2005-2006 Six-Year Improvement Program, VDOT FY2000-2001 Six-Year Improvement Program, VDOT FY1998-1999 Six-Year Improvement Program, VDOT FY1995-1996 Six-Year Improvement Program, VDOT FY1990-1991 Six-Year Improvement Program. Average Daily Traffic Volumes with Vehicle Classification Data on Interstate, Arterial and Primary Routes, by Virginia Department of Transportation, 2005. Also, VDOT website and Hampton Roads Daily Press.

Copyright © 2001-2006 by Scott Kozel. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse, or distribution without permission is prohibited.

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By Scott M. Kozel, Roads to the Future