Posted on August 26, 2021
FRONT ROYAL — The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed earlier this month by the U.S. Senate will help fix state roads and bridges, allow local communities to expand broadband access and create more jobs, said Sen. Mark Warner during a visit Monday to the Virginia Inland Port.
The Democratic senator met with several local leaders at the port to promote the benefits of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by the Senate with 10 Republicans joining the 50 Democrats in the approval. The stop was one of many Warner was making during a four-day swing through Virginia to explain the plan and its benefits to local communities.
“This idea of a massive … once in a 45-year-plus investment nationally in infrastructure, I think is extraordinary,” Warner said to the room of about 20.
The bill still requires approval in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, before it can be signed by President Joe Biden. But Warner said he’s hopeful the plan will be passed there with bipartisan support.
The bill calls for the spending to occur over the next eight years with $542 billion to be spent in the next five years. About $110 billion will go toward fixing roads and bridges nationwide, of which the Virginia Department of Transportation will get about $7 billion. VDOT’s funding could go toward repairing and expanding access to Interstate 81 and shoring up the state’s 700 bridges.
Ports will get about $17 billion, which can go toward the Virginia Port Authority’s maritime port in the Hampton Roads area, as well as the Virginia Inland Port in Warren County.
The rail industry will get about $66 billion with most going toward Amtrak, Warner said, but a “big chunk” will be available for the Inland Port. Funding for smaller localities’ bus transit systems is also available.
About $30 million will go to repair aging water systems, $65 billion for broadband expansion, $7 billion for energy items — including offshore wind technology — and the purchase of 25,000 school buses — most of which will be electric.
“There is no reason why we can’t get everybody covered,” Warner said of the funding for broadband projects.
With the $700 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds that the state legislature recently allocated toward broadband expansion, Warner said localities should start those projects. There’s a chance money from the infrastructure bill, once it goes out, can be reallocated to cover ARPA funds spent for broadband expansion.
Warren County Administrator Edwin Daley said all of the county’s ARPA funds will go toward broadband expansion. He asked if any of the money from the bill can go toward bolstering the roadway system outside the Inland Port, especially since the port is expanding.
A backup of trains getting in and out of the port have blocked roads in the county for sometimes up to an hour, Daley added.
Warner suggested working with the Virginia Department of Transportation to see if overpasses could solve that issue.
The port would like to make investments in obtaining more space, said Louis Cranford, operations manager at the port. Only about 95 of the about 161 acres the port sits on is paved with asphalt and in use. The port is also becoming more automated and two new cranes to stack freight containers five levels high. It is also adding three new railway tracks.
