Atlantic Gateway (Virginia)

Last updated

The Atlantic Gateway is a planned infrastructure improvement project in Virginia that will expand transportation routes leading into Washington, D.C. from Virginia. It includes road and rail components, and construction is planned to take place through the end of the 2010s and into the early 2020s.

Contents

Funding

The budget for the entire project is estimated at $1.4 billion, and is funded by a mix of federal, state, and private sources. [1] $710 million comes from the state's transportation budget, while rail operator CSX Transportation and toll road operator Transurban will jointly contribute $565 million and the federal government, through its FASTLANE program, issued a $165 million grant. [1]

Road improvements

Tolled high occupancy lanes on Interstate 395 will be extended about 8 miles (13 km) north from their current terminus just inside the Washington Beltway to the Pentagon, while similar lanes on Interstate 95 will be extended about 10 miles (16 km) south into Fredericksburg. [2] I-95's crossing of the Rappahannock River will also see additional capacity added. [2] The I-395 work is scheduled to be completed in 2019, while I-95 construction will continue into 2020. [2]

Rail improvements

Two sections of additional mainline trackage will be added to the CSX line running south through Virginia. A 6 miles (9.7 km) fourth track will be built from Long Bridge, which crosses the Potomac, south to Alexandria, and an 8 miles (13 km) third track will be built between the Franconia–Springfield station and Occoquan River crossing. [3] CSX will transfer an abandoned right-of-way between Petersburg and the North Carolina border, a critical link in the planned Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor, to the state of Virginia. [3] Early design and engineering work of a replaced or rebuilt Long Bridge to increase rail capacity out of Washington will also take place, through actual construction remains unfunded. [3] Most rail construction is to take until 2020, though some minor improvements to the corridor will be completed sooner. [2]

Related Research Articles

Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing with New Brunswick, Canada. The highway runs largely parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast and US 1, serving areas from Florida to Maine. In general, I-95 serves the major cities of the Eastern Seaboard and metropolitan areas such as Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah, and Fayetteville in the Southeast; and Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Newark, and New York City in the Mid-Atlantic States up to New Haven, Providence, Boston, and Portland in New England. The route follows a more direct inland route between Savannah and Washington, notably bypassing the coastal metropolitan areas of Charleston and Norfolk-Virginia Beach, which require connections through other Interstate Highways..

Interstate 66 (I-66) is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. As indicated by its even route number, it runs in an east–west direction. Its western terminus is near Middletown, Virginia, at an interchange with I-81; its eastern terminus is in Washington, D.C., at an interchange with U.S. Route 29. Because of its terminus in the Shenandoah Valley, the highway was once called the "Shenandoah Freeway." Much of the route parallels U.S. Route 29 or Virginia State Route 55. Interstate 66 has no physical or historical connection to the famous U.S. Route 66 which was located in a different region of the United States.

Northeast Corridor

The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States both by ridership and by service frequency as of 2013. The NEC carries more than 2,200 trains daily. Branches to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Springfield, Massachusetts, and various points in Virginia are not considered part of the Northeast Corridor, despite frequent service from routes that run largely on the corridor.

The Capital Beltway is a 64-mile (103 km) Interstate Highway that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside the Beltway", used when referring to issues dealing with U.S. government and politics. The highway is signed as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, and its southern and eastern half runs concurrently with I-95.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown Richmond. VDOT is responsible for building, maintaining, and operating the roads, bridges, and tunnels in the commonwealth. It is overseen by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which has the power to fund airports, seaports, rail, and public transportation.

Interstate 395 (I-395) in Washington, D.C., and Virginia is a 13.39-mile-long (21.55 km) spur route of I-95 that begins at an interchange with I-95 in Springfield and ends at an interchange with U.S. Route 50 in northwest Washington, D.C. It passes underneath the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol and ends at a junction with US 50 at New York Avenue, roughly one mile (1.6 km) north of the 3rd Street Tunnel. Despite its proximity to I-395 in Maryland, the route is unrelated and unconnected.

Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor

The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from Washington, D.C. south through Richmond, Petersburg with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia through Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and south to Charlotte in North Carolina and connect with the existing high-speed rail corridor from D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts known as the Northeast Corridor. Since first established in 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended the corridor to Atlanta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.

Transportation in Virginia

Transportation in the Commonwealth of Virginia is by land, sea and air. Virginia's extensive network of highways and railroads were developed and built over a period almost 400 years, beginning almost immediately after the founding of Jamestown in 1607, and often incorporating old established trails of the Native Americans.

Interstate 95 (I-95) runs 179 miles (288 km) within the Commonwealth of Virginia between its borders with Maryland and North Carolina. I-95 is concurrent with I-64 for 3 miles (4.8 km) in Richmond, and meets the northern terminus of I-85 in Petersburg. Although I-95 was originally planned as a highway through Washington, D.C., it was rerouted along the eastern portion of the Capital Beltway. From Petersburg to Richmond, I-95 was most of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike

Interstate 95 (I-95) in Maryland is a major highway that runs 109.01 miles (175.43 km) diagonally from northeast to southwest, from Maryland's border with Delaware, to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, entering the District of Columbia and reaching Virginia. The route is one of the most traveled Interstate Highways in Maryland, especially between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., despite alternate routes along the corridor, such as the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, U.S. Route 1, and U.S. Route 29. Portions of the highway are tolled.

Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main Interstate Highway of Florida's Atlantic Coast. It begins at a partial interchange with U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) just south of downtown Miami, and heads north past Daytona Beach, through Jacksonville, and to the Georgia state line at the St. Marys River near Becker. The route also passes through the cities of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Titusville.

Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate highway running from Miami, Florida, north to Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, it runs 44.25 miles (71.21 km) from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook to the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge at the New Jersey state line. From the Delaware state line to exit 40, the route is known by many as the Delaware Expressway, but is officially named the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. North(east) of exit 40, I-95 runs along the easternmost portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I-95 parallels its namesake Delaware River for its entire route through the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs. It is a major route through the city and the metropolitan Delaware Valley, providing access to locally important landmarks such as Subaru Park, Philadelphia International Airport, the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, Penn's Landing, and Philadelphia Mills.

Heartland Corridor

The Heartland Corridor is a public-private partnership between the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and the Federal Highway Administration and three U.S. states to improve railroad freight operations.

Interstate 64 (I-64) in the U.S. state of Virginia runs east–west through the middle of the state from West Virginia to the Hampton Roads region, for a total of 299 miles (481 km). It is notable for crossing the mouth of the harbor of Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel, the first bridge-tunnel to incorporate artificial islands.(Concurrent with US Route 60). Also noteworthy is a section through Rockfish Gap, a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which was equipped with an innovative system of airport-style runway lighting embedded into the pavement to aid motorists during periods of poor visibility due to fog or other conditions.

Crescent Corridor

The Crescent Corridor is a railroad corridor operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). The project, first proposed in 2007, and scheduled for completion by 2020, spans 13 states from New York to Louisiana. It is a private-public partnership between Norfolk Southern and the various state and federal governments.

National Gateway is a multi-stage railroad construction project in the United States promoted by CSX Transportation, a unit of CSX Corporation. It is designed to improve rail connections between ports in the U.S. mid-Atlantic seaboard and the Midwest by upgrading bridges and tunnels to allow taller freight trains. In 2008 the company announced its plans to invest $300 million, and is seeking investment from state governments and the U.S. federal government of an additional $400 million as a public-private partnership. Phase 1 of the $850 million project, between CSX’s existing terminal in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and its hub facility in Northwest Ohio. was completed in September 2013.

Transportation in Hampton Roads

Historically, the harbor was the key to the Hampton Roads area's growth, both on land and in water-related activities and events. Ironically, the harbor and its tributary waterways were both important transportation conduits and obstacles to other land-based commerce and travel. For hundreds of years, state and community leaders have worked to develop solutions to accommodate both.

Virginia HOT lanes refers to six separate projects in the U.S. state of Virginia. The first project, completed in November 2012, added high-occupancy/toll (HO/T) lanes to the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Fairfax County. The second project, opened to the public in December 2014, involved converting and extending the existing reversible high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-95 and a portion of I-395 to HO/T lanes from Stafford to near Alexandria. The third project converted all lanes on I-66 inside the Beltway to peak-direction HO/T lanes, opening on December 4, 2017. The fourth project will reconstruct approximately 21 miles (34 km) of I-66 outside the Beltway, making it a 10-lane corridor. The fifth project, which was completed in November 2019, essentially extended the aforementioned I-95/I-395 project several miles to the north, converting the existing reversible HOV lanes on I-395 to HO/T lanes from near Alexandria to Washington, DC. The sixth project will convert the existing reversible HOV lanes to HO/T Lanes on Interstate 64 from Interstate 564 in Norfolk to Interstate 264 in Virginia Beach, and also propose to expand the I-64 express lanes before and after the HO/T Lanes.

Transportation in Northern Virginia

The Northern Virginia region is served by numerous mediums of transit. Transportation in the region is overseen by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

References

  1. 1 2 "Va. wins $165 million grant to unlock 'Atlantic Gateway' with rail and highway improvements". Richmond Times-Dispatch. July 5, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "What to expect from Virginia's Atlantic Gateway projects". The Washington Post. July 8, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Virginia seeks project manager for Atlantic Gateway". Railway Age. February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.