The Port of Virginia and Hampton Roads will be bearing the brunt of the impact of the shift in shipping traffic in the wake of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
VDOT is anticipating in the area of 500 more vehicle trips per day in the Port of Virginia and Hampton Roads region, an 8 to 10 percent increase in normal daily traffic, according to state officials who briefed Gov. Glenn Youngkin and federal, state and local political leaders on Friday.
The March 26 bridge collapse threatened disruptions to a key player in the East Coast supply chain. President Biden has pledged to back the effort to clear the Port of Baltimore and rebuild the bridge.
The Army Corps of Engineers reported this week that it hopes a limited channel will reopen in Baltimore by the end of the month, with it fully reopening by the end of May.
“Opening the channel and rebuilding the bridge are both remarkably complex operations that can’t happen overnight,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “But as President Biden has instructed from Day 1, the federal government will provide everything Maryland needs.”
The Port of Virginia, in the meantime, will be taking on a good portion of the extra shipping traffic in the interim, however long that interim is.
“We’ve seen incredible professionalism and collaborative interagency and interstate efforts over the last 10 days in order to aid our friends in Baltimore to keep the supply chain moving, manage the increase in import/export cargo and protect Virginia’s vital role in national and international commerce,” Youngkin said in a statement on Friday.
“I want to thank all involved for the collaborative effort to safeguard our highways and waterways to support the Port’s operations. Hampton Roads residents and all Virginians can be confident we are prepared to manage this and keep trade moving in the face of unforeseen challenges.”
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Chris Graham
