Region's waterway projects to get $21M boost

RICHMOND

More than $21 million in federal stimulus money will flow from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fund several regional water projects, including work at Norfolk Harbor and Craney Island.

South Hampton Roads is slated to receive nearly two-thirds of the money, which is designated to improve local bridges, waterways and wetlands.

Federal rules require that the stimulus money be used for projects that had previously received funding, according to the Army Corps, which will hire contractors to do the work.

"These projects will put people back to work now, and they will help strengthen our local fishing and shipping industries from Chincoteague to Virginia Beach," U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye said in a statement jointly issued with Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb.

Stimulus money available for local projects includes:

- $1.25 million for costs related to the construction of the North Landing Bridge along the Virginia Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.

- Nearly $10.2 million for a series of projects at Norfolk Harbor and Craney Island.

- $700,000 for design work on the Deep Creek Bridge replacement structure.

- $235,000 to restore wetlands in the drainage canal at Old Dominion University and $135,000 for a similar project at Scuffletown Creek in Chesapeake.

- A combined $1.4 million to dredge the Chesapeake Bay's Lynnhaven Inlet and the Pagan River in Smithfield.

News of federal wetland restoration funding was welcome at the Elizabeth River Project, which has pushed for the protection of local waterways.

"I'm really glad to see those two projects move forward," said the group's executive director, Marjorie Mayfield Jackson. "They'll be a big help."

The nonprofit Elizabeth River Project for years has advocated for the restoration of 17 acres of wetlands sites.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com