Warner & Kaine Announce Over $7.9 Million in Federal Funding for Infrastructure in Suffolk, Franklin and Bedford Counties, and Rocky Mount

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $7,976,508 in federal funding to support infrastructure improvements in the City of Suffolk, Franklin and Bedford Counties, and the Town of Rocky Mount. The funding was awarded through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) grant program, which received historic levels of support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the senators helped pass.

“After many years of talking about how we need to upgrade our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to boost federal funding for critical transportation grant programs like RAISE. Now, communities across the Commonwealth are reaping the benefits,” said the senators. “We’re thrilled this funding is headed to communities across Virginia to support transportation improvements and help make it easier for Virginians to get where they need to go.”

The funding will be allocated as follows:

• $5,319,360 for the City of Suffolk to fund the engineering design, right-of-way, and construction of the approximate 2.2-mile Suffolk Seaboard Coastline Trail Segment 3C from the northern terminus of Segment 3B to Nansemond High School. The trail will consist of an asphalt path with gravel shoulders and approximately 1,800-feet of the alignment will consist of a raised boardwalk over wooded wetlands.
• $1,657,148 for the West Piedmont Planning District Commission to fund the development of an approximately 24.2-mile corridor plan along Route 122 from Wirtz Road in Franklin County and Jopa Mill Road in Bedford County. The plan will recommend safety, capacity, and geometric improvements. It will also examine the feasibility of a corridor-wide, multi-use trail and multimodal options spanning a lake, a park-and-ride facility with EV charging stations, elements of Complete Streets where feasible, and a shuttle between the corridor and nearby Amtrak stations.
• $1,000,000 for the Town of Rocky Mount to fund planning activities to identify potential mobility and connectivity improvements along approximately 1.5-miles of Highway 40 between Booker Washington Highway and Main Street, as well as approximately 0.7-miles of Tanyard Road off of Highway 40 to the North Main Street intersection. The plan will consider access management solutions, Complete Streets improvements, frontage roadways, bicycle infrastructure, and existing park and ride lot improvements.

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