Warner, Kaine Announce Nearly $25 Million in Federal Funding for Flood Resiliency and Severe Weather Protections for Coastal Virginia
The funding was awarded through the Department of Transportation PROTECT Grant Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $24,439,297 in federal funding for two resiliency projects in the Commonwealth. The funding, courtesy of the Department of Transportation Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation Program (PROTECT) Grant Program, was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law the senators passed and will go towards efforts to mitigate damage from severe weather and flooding in Virginia Beach and throughout the Tidewater region.
“As severe weather events become more common, we’re glad to see this funding further shore up resilience efforts to protect residents, assist with evacuations, and address the frustration of flooded roads,” the senators said.
The funding is broken down as follows:
- Virginia Beach will receive $19,012,917 in federal funding to address flooding issues on Pungo Ferry Road, a low-lying roadway that provides an east-west connection to several military installations, agricultural lands, and wildlife refuges. The project will raise a 1.5-mile of the roadway to make it passable during 100-year storm events, and will include paved, graded shoulders and bike paths.
- Virginia's Tidewater and Chesapeake region will receive $5,426,380 to install a weather and traffic monitoring system that will facilitate emergency evacuations due to extreme weather events through the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Sens. Warner and Kaine have long-supported efforts to build coastal resilience and record flooding in Virginia’s coastal communities. Last year, the senators announced over $10 million in federal funding to combat the effects of severe flooding in coastal Virginia as well as $25 million to protect critical infrastructure from flooding in Virginia Beach. The senators also previously secured nearly $399 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, which will reduce and manage flooding in Norfolk through a system of surge barriers, tidal gates, floodwalls, levees, pump stations, and non-structural measures.
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