Midtown Tunnel Project

The Elizabeth River Tunnels Public-Private Partnership (P3) project is located in the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. MEC’s work included construction and pre-construction services for electrical systems for the new Midtown Tunnel and Martin Luther King Expressway, and rehabilitation of the existing Downtown and Midtown Tunnels. Through 2017, MEC worked with SKW Constructors, a Skanska, Kiewit, Weeks Marine Joint Venture.

The project contract was executed the first week of March 2013, and MEC’s work began in August with the rehabilitation of the Downtown Tunnel Westbound. Work consisted of the replacement of the power systems, installation of a new fire alarm, security and air monitoring systems, and the start of an integrated Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), which will be connected throughout the entire project. A new conduit rack system was installed in a manner to provide easy access for future owner maintenance. Existing tunnel lighting was replaced with an efficient LED Tunnel Lighting System, and MEC provided power and control feeds for new jet fans, which are equipped to withstand a 10MW fire event. Construction for the Downtown Tunnel Eastbound began in the spring of 2014.

In late 2014, construction of the new Midtown Tunnel began, with MEC providing all electrical systems for the new tunnel and the new support buildings. A new expressway was constructed to create a direct freeway-to-freeway connection between the Midtown Tunnels and I-264, a major interstate that runs through the middle of the Norfolk and Portsmouth area. MEC installed and provided power to all the ITS devices that were placed in the new expressway, as well as the new fiber optic cable, which provides communication between all the Tunnels and the Martin Luther King Expressway.