CAPE CHARLES, Va. (WAVY) — The tunnel boring machine known as Chessie broke through the receiving pit on Two Island at the Thimble Shoal Channel at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Monday, the ...

Jackson’s grandmother was Mary Jackson, the first Black female engineer at NASA. The tunnel boring machine is named for her. Jackson, 45, was thinking about growing up on Shell Road in Hampton.

Previous coverage: 'Mary the Tunnel Boring Machine' makes its debut at tunnel expansion ceremony " (It's to) get higher out of the salt spray. We’ll have a much longer lifespan," said Banas.

The tunnel boring machine known as Chessie got back to work on April 8, days before the 60th anniversary of the bridge-tunnel’s opening on April 15, 1964.

The $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion underway — in which Mary, its tunnel boring machine, completed work on one of two new tunnels in April — is the larger and more high-profile ...