Stafford County awarded $10M in fed funding to relocate Brooke Road out of floodplain

Stafford County has received a $10,251,613 federal grant to raise and realign a portion of Brooke Road to alleviate frequent flooding.

According to United States Department of Transportation, the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Discretionary Grant Program was created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide funding to ensure surface transportation resilience to natural hazards including climate change, sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes, and at-risk coastal infrastructure.

The federal award will also improve access of the road for residents and emergency services.

U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia announced the federal award today, for which her office sent a letter of support. 

The funding is made possible through the USDOT and Federal Highway Administration’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Grant Program — created by the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Spanberger helped negotiate and voted to pass.

The award will allow Stafford County to realign a 0.45-mile portion of Brooke Road from Loblolly Lane to Maplewood Drive to relocate the road out of the floodplain. The project will address frequent flooding on portions of the road that become impassable for extended periods of time during heavy rainstorms, isolating more than 600 residents and restricting access to food, water, shelter, places of work and emergency services. The roadway runs parallel to Accokeek Creek, a major tributary to the Potomac River.

“Virginians deserve safe roads to drive on in their communities. The project to be funded by this more than $10 million federal grant will finally help relieve persistent flooding that keeps residents of Stafford County and those traveling through from getting where they need to go, getting what they need, and getting the emergency services they might depend on,” Spanberger said. “The bipartisan infrastructure law is continuing to deliver for Virginia’s communities — and I was proud to have a hand in crafting the bipartisan framework that led to this historic investment in our nation’s physical infrastructure needs.”

Meg Bohmke is chair of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.

“Stafford County is grateful to the Federal Highway Administration and Department of Transportation for the opportunity to be awarded the $10.2 million PROTECT Grant,” she said. “Once obtained, it will play a crucial role in addressing the persistent flooding issues at the ‘S’ curve on Brooke Road. It will also enable the county to implement a sustainable solution, ensuring the safety and accessibility of the residents living beyond that point.”