Sen. Warner walks Chatham Bridge, touts $1.2T infrastructure spending bill

Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) visited Fredericksburg as part of a week-long tour of Virginia to talk about a recently passed infrastructure bill. The Commonwealth will receive funds for transit projects.

Warner walked the recently rehabilitated Chatham Bridge to promote a bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act package, which contains $537 million to repair and replace bridges in Virginia over five years. Virginia will receive $232 million for projects to improve transit from the act’s total $1.2 trillion in funds.

According to Warner,530 bridges in the Commonwealth need repair or replacement.

“We’ve been talking about infrastructure for 40 years. It didn’t matter which party was in control. It would always get punted,” said Warner. “We finally said it was time to sit down and work this out. We worked it out. The sausage-making in Washington is like the sausage-making in Richmond, it always takes too long, but we finally got it done.”

In addition to funding for bridges, Warner touted the act’s budget that is earmarked for other infrastructure aspects such as roads, trails, flood prevention, and rail. Virginia Railway Express is currently working with Amtrak and CSX on expanding commuter rail in between, such as Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Washington, D.C, as part of the $3.7 million Transforming Rail on Virginia project.

Warner praised the work done on the newly reconstructed Chatham Bridge, linking Stafford County and Fredericksburg over the Rappahannock River. The project wrapped up last fall and was not only completed under its $23.4 million budget but also 16 months ahead of schedule. Warner praised VDOT for its work on the bridge. When asked what lessons could be learned from the project for the act:

“Maybe we should take the management team and ship them around the rest of Virginia because we need people like these,” said Warner. “I was a business person before I was a politician, and nothing frustrates me more than when government projects come in over budget.”

President Joseph Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act in November 2019, the investment supported by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va). In addition, Virginia is expected to receive a portion of the $280 million in funding designated to the Washington D.C. Metro area, which includes Northern Virginia alongside Maryland and the nation’s capital.

That funding will be divided between transit agencies and localities in the area.