Bacon's Rebellion

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State Sets aside $500 Million for New Route 460

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James A. Bacon
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by James A. Bacon

The McDonnell administration is putting the Route 460 project on fast forward.  The state has dedicated up to $500 million to support a public-private partnership to rebuild the four-lane road to interstate quality between Suffolk and Petersburg, a job that could run between $1.44 billion to $1.8 billion, reports the Virginian-Pilot.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Transportation has issued a request for detailed proposals from Cintra Infraestructuras S.A.U., 460 Partners, Inc. and Multimodal Solutions LLC, the two firms that have presented conceptual proposals. The project entails the design and construction of 55 miles of new tolled roadway south of the existing Route 460 with seven interchanges to project access to communities along the corridor. (Click on map for more legible image.)

The project will be financed through a combination of public subsidy, private investment and user fees.

“This project is a top priority of the Commonwealth and will provide substantial benefits related to emergency evacuations and enhance the movement of freight to and from the ports,” said VDOT Commissioner Greg Whirley in making the announcement. “Additionally, the new Route 460 will provide greater connectivity between the Richmond/Petersburg and Hampton Roads regions increasing economic development opportunities and job creation.”

I don’t want to pre-judge the value of this project. My only comment at this point is that this massive public investment requires much closer public scrutiny than it has received so far.

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3 responses to “State Sets aside $500 Million for New Route 460”

  1. Robert C. Welsh Avatar
    Robert C. Welsh

    Nothing like wasting more taxpayer money to appease, DOT, Real estate developers, and paper mill plants, when the current 460 could be updated cheaper and not cost tolls. Bad economy to waste money that could be used to improve our Education System, instead; of being in LAST PLACE in the US.

  2. VALiberaltarian Avatar
    VALiberaltarian

    How does this fit in with the plan to expand Amtrak to Norfolk from Richmond? It seems like it would be easier to kill two birds with one stone and make the improvements to infrastructure once with an eye to both rail and road, instead of both moving along independently. Do any of these localities fall under the UDA mandate? I don’t think Sussex would but Isle of Wight might. Will there be any effort to coordinate the road improvements, the passenger rail line, and UDAs in the localities?

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    For me, the interesting thing is that Va appears to be joining the states who are willing to build new roads that are not completely self-funded by tolls.

    Maryland did this with the ICC knowing full well ahead of time that the road would not pull in enough tolls sufficient to pay for it’s construction, operation and maintenance and sure enough.. earlier this year, announced toll increases for other existing toll roads in an effort to generate the additional revenues needed for the ICC.

    Florida is also doing this. The toll roads are collectively put into an “authority” that then determines how much tolls can be charged on each separate toll road but then the roads that generate “extra” then will subsidize the roads that fall short.

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