SUFFOLK, Va. — As the Port of Virginia expands, so do areas around it. In Suffolk on Wednesday, state and business leaders celebrated the first phase of groundbreaking for Port460, which will serve as a logistics center for businesses seeking direct access to the port.
“It represents the world class gateway both in and out of Virginia,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Located just off route 460 in Suffolk, this logistics hub will be a joint venture from Matan Companies and the Rockefeller Group. Mitsubishi Estate New York, Chuo Nittochi and Taisei USA LLC will also be involved. Just the first phase alone will cost $330 million to complete, but when all phases are finally done, representatives think it will be easy to find businesses to move in, with the ports’ ever-expanding growth.
“That’s what brought us here to this project. And really we’re investing all over the commonwealth. Seeing the commitment to infrastructure spending is so important to us,” said Vincent Burke
The center will cover 500 acres, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, says it will bring thousands of jobs to the region.
“Up to 9000 jobs will be here supported by this facility, and it’s a really exciting step for all of us,” he said.
However, the celebration doesn’t come without concern, as the expansion could increase the traffic woes for Suffolk residents, who are already unhappy about the current state of congestion.
“Suffolk is straining under the growth that we’re experiencing now with a lot still in the pipeline,” one resident said at the recent city council meeting.
Even Mayor Duman expressed his concerns at that very same city council meeting.
“The reality of it is, on 460, whether you like it or not, the Hampton Roads Transportation and Planning Organization says within a decade there’s gonna be twice as much truck traffic there because it’s coming out of the port,” he said.
When News 3 caught up with Duman during the groundbreaking on Wednesday, he said the city have recently received around $31 million from the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund, to enhance route 460, so it can handle the increase in volume.
“This enabled us to actually get ahead of a road project which is very unusual,” Duman told News 3.
It’s an issue that Governor Youngkin also understands, and says will be fixed in time.
“It already begins to address the needed egress and regress of getting in and out of this place,” said Youngkin.
In the coming weeks, News 3 plans to follow through with Mayor Duman. This isn’t the only road improvement project to come to Suffolk in the coming years, and we plan on talking with Duman so he can break down all of them.
