Three projects in Virginia receive RAISE grants from federal government

In late June, U.S Transportation Secretary Pete Buttiegig announced $1.8 billion in funding for 148 large transportation projects across the nation. That includes three in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but none in the Charlottesville area in this cycle of the “Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity” program. 

For the second time in a row, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission failed to receive funding for a pedestrian and bike bridge across the Rivanna River at Woolen Mills. The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board endorsed a second attempt in January, but it was not successful.  

The projects that did receive funding are:

• The West Piedmont Planning District Commission was awarded $1,657,148 for a regional corridor plan for a 24.2 mile stretch of Virginia Route 122 in Franklin County and Bedford County around Smith Mountain Lake. (learn more)
• The Town of Rocky Mount received a $100,000 planning grant for 1.5 miles of Virginia Route 40 (learn more)
• The City of Suffolk received $5.32 million to fund the engineering, design, and construction of a 2.2 mile Suffolk Seaboard Coastline Trail segment (learn more)

In 2022, Albemarle County received $2 million from the RAISE program for a planning study for the Three Notch’d Trail, a proposed shared-use path to connect from Afton Mountain to Charlottesville via Crozet. A request for proposals for a consultant to work on the project was published on April 2. (view the bid documents)

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