Kaine Attends Commonwealth Crossing Groundbreaking

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine continued his statewide tour of the Commonwealth in the Martinsville and Henry County area where he joined U.S. Representatives Robert Hurt and Morgan Griffith at the groundbreaking of the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre.

During the ceremony, Kaine praised the extraordinary work done to receive a site permit in line with environmental standards and begin the process of developing the site. Henry County and the Martinsville-Henry Co. Economic Development Corp. have long worked to secure a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for site preparation, in hopes of attracting manufacturing firms to the county.

“Henry County and Martinsville - this worked because you did it together. I just applaud everybody for keeping that vision alive and communicating effectively to us at the federal level what we should do,” said Kaine. “There's a need for more jobs. Now that Commonwealth Crossing is permitted, these first two sites will be a really good attractor of companies.”

Kaine also spoke about the prevailing spirit of cooperation around the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre, noting that the goal of creating jobs in Virginia brought strong bicameral and bipartisan support to the region.

“I thank the Corps for doing the right thing and I also thank my colleagues for helping Commonwealth Crossing get the review on the merits it deserved,” said Kaine. “Commonwealth Crossing has been a steady issue every time the four of us - Senator Warner, Congressman Hurt and Congressman Griffith and I - have caught up at our monthly delegation lunches over the past year, and we wanted to make sure that we were really paying attention to this. These things wouldn't happen unless we were sitting down and talking together.” 

Kaine was a strong supporter of efforts by Martinsville and Henry County to secure a permit for Commonwealth Crossing’s site preparation. In August, he introduced the Commonsense Permitting for Job Creation Act along with Senator Mark Warner and Congressmen Robert Hurt and Morgan Griffith to expedite approval of the site.   

Kaine will continue his two-week tour of Virginia on Monday in Roanoke. 

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