NK, CC to benefit from $143 million in regional road money

By Alan Chamberlain | April 11, 2013 12:50 pm

Elected officials from the nine localities, including New Kent and Charles City counties, making up the Richmond Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (RAMPO) are using just over $143 million in federal funding to pay for 47 transportation projects in the region over the next six years. Several of those projects are slated for New Kent and Charles City.

Officials from the localities met last Thursday in Richmond to allocate the $143.1 million that comes from the federal Regional Surface Transportation Program ($94.6 million) and federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds ($48.5 million). The allocation decisions are being submitted to the Commonwealth Transportation Board and included in an upcoming FY 2014-19 six-year improvement plan.

Two projects are designated for New Kent. First, $952,670 is being allocated in 2014 for the Courthouse-to-Courthouse Connector, which is a bicycle/pedestrian path linking New Kent Courthouse and Charles City Courthouse along Route 155. The amount is slated for the section of Route 155 from the Charles City/New Kent line north to Route 249.

Previous funding for the project, according to RAMPO, stands at close to $2.9 million, thus the new funding added in produces a total of $3.8 million allocated for the work. Estimated cost for the project is $4.4 million.

Then, $400,000 has been placed in FY 2015 for construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Route 249 (New Kent Highway) and Route 612 (Airport Road). Previously, close to $1.9 million has been allocated for the project, which has an estimated cost of $2.5 million.

Four projects are aimed at Charles City including $400,000 that has been placed in FY 2018 for the Courthouse-to-Courthouse Connector. The amount applies to the Route 155 section from Lott Cary Road north to the New Kent line.

Another bicycle/pedestrian project targeted for Charles City is extension of the Virginia Capital Trail bicycle path from Route 5 to Lott Cary Road (Route 602). Officials placed $561,475 into the RAMPO plan to go along with $350,000 in previous funding. Total cost for the work is pegged at just over $900,000.

Also, the Charles City portion of the plan features a pair of road reconstruction projects. For FY 2015, $439,959 is designated for reconstructing a section of Barnetts Road (Route 609) from Old Union Road (Route 603) to Lott Cary Road (Route 602). Previous allocation for the work is $2.2 million.

A project to widen and strengthen the road surface on Wayside Road (Route 607) between The New Road (Route 639) and Stagg Run Road (Route 642) has $900,000 placed in FY 20117 and $950,000 in FY 2018. Estimated total cost is almost $4.2 million.