‘It’s long overdue’: Congressional reps visit Port of Virginia, hope investments

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Federal representatives stopped by the Port of Virginia Thursday to discuss the millions of dollars going to the widening and deepening of waterways that lead to the port.

Currently, the Norfolk Harbor and Channel is undergoing a $350 million widening and deepening project to increase the depth to at least 55 feet in some areas.

Due to the Infrastructure and Jobs Bill, the port will get $69 million for the project.

“It’s long overdue,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia). “Our competitive advantage for these larger ships that are coming to the East Coast will having the deepest port on the East Coast. This will allow us to get to those 55-foot depths.”

Warner says the investment is great news.

“Great news for Hampton Roads, great news for Virginia, great news for the country because you get the pathway both deeper and wider, you’re going to have a ship come in while a Navy ship goes out. That again gives us a competitive advantage,” he said.

Port officials say having a wider and deeper port allows more large cargo ships to pass through at the same time. Now, the capability of only having one cargo ship pass through slows down other ships, which costs money.

Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Newport News) says the possible quicker efficiency of the port could help the inflation and supply chain issue.

“A lot of people are complaining about inflation without initiative to do something about it. It’s a worldwide problem. You can address it by dealing with supply chain. you get the goods to the store quicker, they won’t be able to jack up the prices. If we can make the ports more successful we can deal with the supply chain,” he said. “We have serious problems on the West Coast and the Port of Hampton Roads is working well. If we continue doing that, it will help deal with inflation.”

Congresswoman Elaine Luria (D-Norfolk) says the project is incredibly important to moving goods across the East Coast and says when there was a backlog of ships on the West Coast, that wasn’t happening here in Hampton Roads.

Luria says volume at the port increased 25% of the last year.

And the growth of the port will be felt in the community.

“As the port continues to grow, so do the number of businesses related in our region. As things come off ships, they can go to warehousing facilities, assembly, light manufacturing and distribution centers. You see the port growing here but you also see so many industries coming to the local area, especially in outlying areas like Suffolk where there’s space and land and a great workforce. I think the more the port grows, I think businesses will choose to make locations here for their businesses,” she said.

The representatives also visited other projects in the area which are receiving around $250 million for the City of Norfolk’s Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, which will help reduce and manage flooding through surge barriers, tidal gates, floodwalls, and more.

Michael Connor, who is the assistant secretary for Civil Works, says coastal resilience projects are one of the biggest growth areas for the…