Virginia transportation secretary outlines priorities, highlights $3.9B tunnel and multimillion‑dollar rail and port projects
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Summary
Secretary Nick Donahue told the Senate transportation subcommittee that his office will prioritize transparency, on‑time delivery and safety while advancing multimillion‑ and multibillion‑dollar projects including a $3.9 billion Hampton Roads tunnel expansion, a roughly $6 billion rail package and $1.4 billion in port improvements.
Nick Donahue, Virginia’s secretary of transportation, told the Senate transportation subcommittee in Richmond that his office will prioritize transparency, accountability and on‑time, on‑budget delivery as it pursues a slate of large infrastructure investments and safety initiatives.
Donahue outlined several major projects he said his office will press forward on: a $3.9 billion expansion of the Hampton Roads tunnel paired with an $800 million Hampton Roads express‑lanes network; a roughly $6 billion “Transforming Rail in Virginia” package intended to increase Amtrak frequency in the I‑95 corridor and expand service to western Virginia and Virginia Tech; a $1.4 billion Port of Virginia Gateway Improvement Project that includes dredging the Hampton Roads channel; and a $4 billion program to address the worst segments of the I‑81 corridor.
"Ultimately, these are taxpayer dollars, and so we need to make sure that people understand how we're using those funds," Donahue said, in remarks to the committee. He added the department will focus on measuring whether investments deliver the intended results for communities and will be willing to try new approaches to reduce highway fatalities.
Donahue also flagged maintenance pressures and rising construction costs. He said the Commonwealth spends more than $2.4 billion annually to maintain the state highway system and noted that construction costs have risen about 37% since 2019—“around 6% a year,” he said—outpacing revenue growth and creating difficult tradeoffs for future projects.
On safety, Donahue said he wants agencies to explore proven practices from elsewhere and cited a multi‑year effort to update Virginia’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan. "If we've seen it be effective in other places, I want to explore it and understand whether or not it can work here," he said.
Committee members pressed Donahue on several items. Senator Roem asked whether the bill aligning state definitions of commercial motor vehicles with federal standards could affect weight‑restricted bridges; a VDOT representative replied that the federal bridge formula would continue to govern weight limits. A later question about WMATA funding prompted Donahue to outline a multi‑year funding shortfall that the region and Commonwealth will need to address to avoid shifting costs to local property taxpayers.
Donahue introduced members of his team — Deputy Secretary Carter Hutchinson, Assistant Secretary Michael York and Deputy Laura Shull — and said they will be points of contact for committee members during the session.
The committee did not take an immediate vote on funding packages during the presentation; members returned to the docket of bills after Donahue’s remarks, and the subcommittee continued with bill consideration and votes.
