Virginia commits $30M to Suffolk port infrastructure project

(The Center Square) — As the Port of Baltimore continues to recover from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the city of Suffolk, Va., continues to pursue the development of a major port complex – with a newly announced $30 million in infrastructure funding from the commonwealth.

The Port 460 Logistics Center Development is a new 540-acre industrial commerce park with a warehousing capacity of 5 million square feet. The center plans to partner with the Port of Virginia to bolster its operations, which requires proper infrastructure.

The center sits at the intersection of two freight corridors – Route 460 and Route 58 – and the $30 million from the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund will go toward the “widening and modernization of a 2.3-mile stretch of Route 460… as well as a redesign of the interchange.”

“Improving Route 460 is critical to helping support and grow the Port of Virginia and the benefits this port brings to the Hampton Roads region and the entire state,” said Stephen Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, in a statement. “This is a forward-thinking decision that will create opportunity and serve multiple interests.”

When the rezoning request for the Port 460 property was approved nearly two years ago, one of Suffolk residents’ biggest concerns was the traffic and congestion the development would bring to the area, according to Virginia Business. The city and the development hope to fend off some of those problems by making road improvements a priority now.

“This significant allocation of Transportation Partnership Opportunity Funds… provides a rare opportunity to address a projected traffic mitigation concern before it becomes a major issue,” said Suffolk Mayor Michael Durman. “This funding allows Suffolk to move ahead with Route 460 corridor improvements that will accommodate the economic growth created by the Port of Virginia and the development of the Port 460 Project.”

The Port of Virginia absorbed some of the aftershocks of the Port of Baltimore incident as it tried to rebuild. It fully reopened in early June.

Richard Scher, a spokesperson for the Maryland Port Administration, told The Center Square the port has seen a “strong recovery” since reopening its main channel, but operations haven’t fully rebounded.

“We’ve had a strong stream of roll on/roll off vessels over the last several weeks and we expect the number of container vessels to increase through the summer. Our two homeported cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are both back to offering year-round cruising from Baltimore,” Scher said in an email.

Despite these successes, Scher said the port’s biggest challenge is “getting back to where we were prior to March 26,” but he is confident it will.

“The advantages that the Port of Baltimore has enjoyed for years did not go away because of this incident,” Scher said. “The resiliency of our supply chain is very strong.”