The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) reports that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Commission formally awarded a $756 million contract to the team of Dragados and Schiavone Construction for the construction of a new 17.6-mile parallel tunnel between Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore. The newspaper adds that the Thimble Shoal Channel Tunnel will cost an estimated $808 million (development, design, financing and construction included), and a “$116 million contingency has been set aside on top of that.”
