Virginia awarded $165 million FASTLANE grant for Atlantic Gateway Project
Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
The CSX-owned, two-track Long Bridge is the only railroad bridge that connects the District of Columbia to Virginia and carries traffic from CSX, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express.
District Department of Transportation
Virginia’s proposed Atlantic Gateway Project has been selected for a federal FASTLANE grant of $165 million.
Combined resources for the project, including the federal grant, private investment and public funding, total $1.4 billion to address the worst bottlenecks on the I-95 corridor in Northern Virginia, transforming travel along the entire East Coast. The project will enhance passenger and freight rail along the corridor, improving reliability and capacity on the East Coast’s rail network and increase bus service.
“Winning this significant federal grant will allow Virginia to move forward on a project that will transform travel conditions and stimulate economic growth across our commonwealth,” said Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. “Our administration worked with federal, state, local and private sector parties to submit a package of transportation improvements that will have far-reaching benefits for everyone who travels the commonwealth, whether by car, bus or train.
“Transportation leaders came to the table with one clear goal: improve travel in the most heavily-traveled corridor in the Southeast by investing in road and rail improvements to move people and commerce more efficiently, not only through Virginia, but also from Florida to New York. I thank the USDOT for having the vision to select the Atlantic Gateway project for the FASTLANE grant. The Atlantic Gateway will create jobs and contribute to our efforts to build a new Virginia economy and we could not have moved forward without this important federal funding.”
The $165 -million FASTLANE grant will leverage $565 million in private investments and $710 million in other transportation funds to build 14 miles of new rail track to improve reliability and capacity for freight, commuter and passenger rail service, including phase 1 of the project to unlock rail congestion at Long Bridge and acquire the S-line, an abandoned rail corridor that runs from North Carolina to the Richmond area from CSX to provide public ownership of a corridor key for future Southeast High Speed Rail, as well as other transportation projects on highways and bridges.
The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation are ready to work with the private industry and the state’s partners in federal, state and local governments to build improvements. The program will move to construction in phases and portions will start as early as 2017. Much of the upfront environmental and engineering work is complete or underway.
