Unsolicited Proposal for Chesapeake’s Dominion Boulevard
In less than a year, the city of Chesapeake in Virginia’s coastal Hampton Roads region has received its second unsolicited proposal for infrastructure improvements. The private consortium Virginia 104, LLC proposed today to widen the congested Dominion Boulevard (formerly State Route 104) from two lanes to four and to replace the Steel Bridge, a bascule over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, with a 95-foot-high fixed span. The bridge’s openings for marine traffic frequently delay the 30,000 vehicles using the route each day.
Although the Dominion Boulevard project has long been a priority for Chesapeake, the city has little funding for its estimated $373 million price tag. The Virginia 104 consortium, whose members include contractors Precon Marine and PCL Civil, engineer Hassell & Folkes, and financier RBC Capital Markets, indicates the project can be built as a PPP with tolls of $2.50 or less.
A September 2008 study by the regional transportation planning organization reported Chesapeake has 160 bridges, more than any other Hampton Roads locality except Norfolk. The Jordan Bridge, another Chesapeake span, closed in November 2008 and is the subject of an earlier unsolicited proposal.
Sources: Virginian-Pilot 9/1/09, 5/14/09