Latest news with #VirginiaDepartmentofTransportation
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
VDOT asks for feedback on I-81, Broad St. multimillion dollar projects
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is calling for public feedback on two multi-million dollar projects affecting the SAW region. On July 14, VDOT will hold a public meeting on the corridor improvement plan for the entirety of Interstate 81 across Virginia. This is the second time a project with a similar scale has been conducted concerning I-81. 'The study team previously conducted a similar study, which was completed in 2018 and advanced 65 construction projects worth approximately $3 billion,' reads the project's summary on VDOT's website. 'Those projects are now in development, and many have already been completed. With those projects well underway, the study team seeks to determine how traffic conditions have changed on the interstate, and which areas now need attention.' The current study has been through round one of public feedback, identifying problems, and is now looking for potential solutions. 'For the 2025 effort, the study team will again identify targeted improvements along I-81, focusing on segments that have the highest rate and severity of crashes, or the most significant traffic delays,' reads the project's website. There are planned projects along I-81 in Augusta County, including multiple projects on acceleration and deceleration lanes extensions around mile marker 232.4 scheduled to begin in January 2028. The projected costs of the three projects around these lanes is estimated to total at least $9 million. The local meeting will take place on July 14 at 5 p.m. at the Robert E. Plecker Workforce Center at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave. Just before, at 3 p.m., the Interstate 81 Advisory Committee will meet in the same location. Additional town halls are planned in Winchester, Bristol, and Salem. More information on the project can be found online at the 2025 Corridor Improvement Plan Update page on VDOT's website. Public comments can also be sent to a81CorridorPlan@ More: THE AGENDA: Staunton plans for flood resiliency, to select school board chair Then, on August 5, VDOT will hold a public hearing on an improvement project for Broad Street in Waynesboro, which will be nearly 1.5 miles long. 'This project improves the operational safety of the Broad Street corridor by replacing center two-way left-turn lanes with designated turn areas and raised medians,' reads the press release. 'This will restrict the number of full access points onto Broad Street and reduce crashes. Streetscape improvements such as trees and other landscaping elements will also be incorporated into the project. Multimodal improvements include installing missing sections of sidewalk (along the north side of Broad Street) and ADA-compliant facilities such as curb ramps and pedestrian crosswalks, and minor signal adjustments as needed.' The cost of the project is approximately $8.3 million, including about $6.5 million for construction. Over $800,000 went toward engineering, and more than $800,000 went to right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation. An average of 11,600 vehicles utilize Broad Street every day, according to VDOT. The open house is scheduled for 4 p.m. on August 5 in Waynesboro City Council chambers at the Charles T. Yancey Municipal Building, located at 504 Main St. The project manager, Jennifer Hoover, will receive comments submitted at the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting date. More information about the project can be found on the VDOT project page. More: Affidavit: Witness shot man in head after relative was stabbed in neck in Mount Solon Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It's welcome through email to lbordelon@ Subscribe to us at This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: VDOT asks for feedback on I-81, Broad St. multimillion dollar projects
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Virginia vulnerable to Trump's proposed cuts in emergency management and disaster relief
The Route 725 bridge in Taylors Valley over Laurel Creek damaged by Hurricane Helene. Virginia has received more than $46 million in federal money to aid in the recovery from the storm. (Courtesy of Virginia Department of Transportation). CHESTERFIELD, Va.—Virginia was one of several states in the Appalachian region slammed by Hurricane Helene's rainfall last September. The storm caused the New River to crest at 31 feet a day after it battered the region. In one area of Damascus, homes were lifted up and washed away. A separate storm besieged southwest Virginia in February, knocking out power to 203,000 homes and closing 270 roads. Last month, a 1.5-mile stretch of U.S. Route 58, a major thoroughfare in the road-constrained mountainous region, reopened after getting washed out. Now, at the beginning of a 2025 hurricane season forecast to be 'above average,' Virginia is in preparation mode for the season that typically picks up steam throughout summer and does its damage in the fall, like Helene did last year. Scientists have continuously pointed to human-created emissions leading to atmospheric warming and rising oceans that contribute to hurricanes' more intense rainfall. Jeff Orrock, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service's Wakefield office, said research indicates there have been more major hurricanes in the last 13 years than there had been in the half-century before that. 'What we consider normal is a higher number of storms than what we considered normal, say, 20 years ago,' Orrock said in an interview. Against this backdrop of worsening disasters, the Trump administration is suggesting that states should shoulder significantly more of the burden of response and recovery. Layoffs and buyouts have cut a big swath through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and President Donald Trump has said he might want to eliminate FEMAentirely. His proposed budget for the fiscal year starting in October would cut $646 million from the agency. In January, Trump ordered a newly established council to 'assess' FEMA. Later, the administration fired the acting administrator of FEMA a day after he told a congressional subcommittee that he didn't think eliminating the agency was 'in the best interest of the American people.' His replacement reportedly said during a recent staff meeting that he didn't know there was a hurricane season. Virginia's Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, is one of two sitting governors, alongside Texas' Greg Abbott, on Trump's council conducting the FEMA review. At a June 1 media event marking the start of hurricane season, Youngkin told Inside Climate News that 'we'll be doing the transformation design work' over a 180-day span. That, he said, will make 'FEMA more effective and more efficient and more responsive to state needs.' 'Meanwhile, FEMA's ready to go to support anybody during hurricane season that needs it,' said Youngkin, a Trump ally. On the other side of the political aisle, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he's worried about the implications for his state if federal involvement in disaster response and recovery shrivels. When the losses communities suffer are too big to handle on their own, states need federal help, he said. 'Think about western North Carolina that got devastated,' he said. 'I believe the costs were in the roughly $60 to $80 billion [range]. That would bankrupt the state if you had to do it all on your own. … All you're doing is passing the buck.' He added: 'Frankly, for states like ours that can get hit both by hurricanes with our shoreline as well as this increasing number of storms that come up, for example into Southwest Virginia, we would bear a disproportionate burden. It wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be right.' What disaster recovery might look like in a post-FEMA world isn't clear. Among the Republican proposals is to instead send federal block grants to states based in part on historical disaster frequency. But FEMA does a lot that states would find challenging or impossible to replicate, from flood insurance to training and multi-agency coordination. Youngkin acknowledged at his media event that such coordination happens on a 'deep' level with local, state and federal agencies. The changes Warner would like to see from FEMA include faster resource deployment and more equitable assistance to help climate-vulnerable states like Virginia. Warner pointed to the agency's individual assistance program, which provides disaster relief funding to people whose property has been damaged in a storm. But in the case of some Southwest Virginia communities, the program has provided no assistance. In a region where nearly 18 percent of people live below the federal poverty level, he said, 'you can have a hundred houses destroyed in Hurley and Buchanan County that wouldn't have the same property value as 20 houses in Fairfax County.' Because of the lower property values in those southwestern communities, the damage costs didn't meet FEMA thresholds, which Warner said should be adjusted. 'That's unfair,' Warner said. Neither the White House nor FEMA responded to requests for comment about concerns over the federal government's role in disaster response. FEMA isn't the only agency important to disaster response that's sustaining cuts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has faced major workforce reductions in recent months, and Trump has proposed cutting $1.5 billion from its budget starting in October, about a quarter of its current spending. Within NOAA, the National Weather Service is down about 600 employees—the agency is looking to hire again after warnings that the cuts could endanger lives. Many of its 122 local forecasting offices are operating with reduced personnel. When Inside Climate News asked the five offices in Virginia for their current staffing levels, each referred questions to a spokesperson for the National Weather Service, who did not answer the question. Instead, the agency sent a statement that it 'continues to conduct short-term Temporary Duty assignments (TDYs), and is in the process of conducting a series of Reassignment Opportunity Notices (RONs) to fill roles at NWS field locations with the greatest operational need. 'Additionally, a targeted number of permanent, mission-critical field positions will soon be advertised under an exception to the Department-wide hiring freeze to further stabilize frontline operations,' the statement read. Orrock said his Wakefield office was able to maintain its forecasters and technicians to monitor storms and communicate with other offices, including sending out weather warnings. It's important to watch for a 'swinging door' weather pattern, he said. Winds from across the mid-Atlantic shut that figurative door, pushing storms into the Chesapeake Bay. But with 'a nice southerly flow' the 'door swings open,' causing a weather pattern to stay for weeks or months, Orrock said. 'If you get a hurricane anywhere from the Bahamas and East, and that door's open, she's coming up here,' Orrock said. 'It's just a matter of if it's going to re-curve or is it going to come on in.' A key to mitigating flood damage, environmental advocates say, is ensuring flood protections through planning and nature-based solutions to absorb water accumulations and storm surges. Virginia provides funds to its Community Flood Preparedness Fund for that planning. But Youngkin in December 2023 withdrew the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the main source of those funds via payments made by power plant owners. Of the $830 million Virginia received, state law directed 45 percent toward the flood fund, 50 percent for energy efficiency efforts and the rest for administrative costs. Lawmakers have clashed over how to sustain continued funding for flood mitigation without RGGI revenues while also providing disaster relief. Youngkin in December 2023 put $100 million in general funds toward the flood fund and this year added $50 million in non-general funds, said Peter Finocchio, press secretary, who did not clarify if the second funding stream came from the final RGGI revenue that hadn't yet been divvied up. Another $100 million in general funds went to a Resilient Virginia Revolving Loan Fund, a separate flood mitigation program. For disaster relief, lawmakers this year ultimately put $50 million from the general fund toward what became the Virginia Disaster Assistance Fund for Helene and February storm victims, with half for relief and half for making communities more resilient. Trump, meanwhile, made cuts to FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program, which helped communities bolster their ability to deal with flooding. The Environmental Defense Fund, in an email to Inside Climate News, said Trump's cuts result in a loss of about $69 million for 39 projects that 'may weaken Virginia's safety, preparedness and economy.' The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also canceled a $20 million grant intended to provide flood mitigation for Aberdeen Gardens, a historically Black neighborhood in the Hampton Roads region. The funding came through the Inflation Reduction Act's Community Change Grants Program. Several groups are challenging Trump's cancellation of IRA grants that were appropriated through Congress. Norfolk-based Wetlands Watch, the beneficiary of this grant alongside the city of Hampton, said in a news release that the two 'are exploring all options to appeal the surprise termination.' 'This is not just about one grant,' said Mary-Carson Stiff, executive director of Wetlands Watch. 'It's about the principle that public commitments made to protect vulnerable communities cannot be violated according to political caprice. We intend to fight—and we are calling on our supporters and the public to stand with us.' This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Virginia State Police seek driver in Windsor power pole collision
WINDSOR, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia State Police is asking for help in locating a driver who struck a power pole in Windsor on Thursday night and fled the scene. State police responded to a vehicle crash in the 27000 block of Colosse Road at approximately 10:50 p.m. Upon arrival, the trooper discovered an abandoned 2006 Ford F150, which had hit a power pole, in a ditch. Active power lines were spread across the roadway. Dominion Power was called to the scene. Virginia Department of Transportation established detours around Colosse Road. State police are attempting to locate the owner and driver of the vehicle at this time. If anyone may be familiar with this vehicle or the current owner of the vehicle, call (804) 750-8789. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chesapeake wants to build a railroad crossing overpass in South Norfolk
CHESAPEAKE — City leaders are pursuing grant funding from the state to build an overpass bridge for the Norfolk Portsmouth Beltline Railroad on Freeman Avenue in South Norfolk. At its meeting this week, the Chesapeake City Council passed a resolution to apply for funding through Virginia Department of Transportation's Revenue Sharing Program for the project. The rail passing is nestled between Harris Street and Republic Road. The project would replace the existing at-grade railroad crossing with an overpass bridge and include associated roadway realignments and improvements. Local transportation experts have been studying traffic disruptions caused by trains across Hampton Roads in an effort to recommend solutions. The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization collected data on more than 600 railway crossings across the region to prioritize improvements and new overpasses and underpasses projects to ease traffic congestion. The organization scored 307 public, at-grade crossings for prioritization based on several factors, including traffic and train volumes, delays, safety and roadway characteristics. The Freeman Avenue crossing came in at number 11 on the list. Norfolk railroad crossings occupied the top five spots on the list, including on Hampton Avenue at Terminal Boulevard and on Granby Street near Ward's Corner. Chesapeake has the most crossings in the region at 122, including 98 at-grade crossings, according to the HRTPO. The Freeman Avenue overpass project will feature two 12-foot lanes at a speed of 35 mph. Pedestrian and bicycle facilities won't be included, but 8-foot shoulders are proposed accommodations. Also at Tuesday's meeting, the council approved an action to acquire rights-of-way in the area required to construct the project. Construction is scheduled for the spring of 2028 and expected to span until late 2030. The city has prioritized the project as it currently has $22.5 million of funding in the city's multi-year Capital Improvement Plan in the fiscal budget, including $10.2 million from the Federal Rail Administration. An additional $24.5 million will be needed in future years, for a projected total of $47 million. The city's application for funding from VDOT requests $10 million, and if received, the city would match that — likely through bonds financed by the South Norfolk Tax Increment Financing district, according to a memo from city staff. Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133,
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Crashes at two tunnels slowing down Memorial Day weekend traffic
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Crashes in the area of two of the region's tunnels Friday are slowing down traffic on this Memorial Day holiday weekend. All westbound lanes of I-264 at the Downtown Tunnel were closed Friday afternoon due to a crash, the Virginia Department of Transportation westbound lanes of I-264 at the Downtown Tunnel reopened before 4 p.m., but VDOT said drivers can continue to expect delays, with backups of about one is backed up for more than a mile, and three is no traffic currently in the tunnel. There was also a crash that closed I-64 westbound near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Friday afternoon. Lanes have since reopened, but traffic backups approaching the HRBT are about 6.5 miles, according to VDOT. Southbound traffic at the James River Bridge was heavy, but steady, according to VDOT traffic cameras, while there were backups of about two miles on I-664 southbound at the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel. Traffic was also backed up on Route 58 westbound in Suffolk following a vehicle fire Friday afternoon. VDOT suspended many highway work zones and lifted most lane closures on interstates and other major roads in Virginia for holiday travel from noon Friday until noon Tuesday, May 27. AAA expects near record-breaking Memorial Day travel – see the best times to drive Check with for updates. Save time on your drive by getting WAVY alerts on crashes, delays and detours. Download the mobile app, and sign up for traffic alerts. Click , and . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
