$Millions in grants coming to the Shore

VIRGINIA BEACH — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine on Wednesday announced $55.985 million in new federal funding for communities in Hampton Roads, Richmond, and on the Eastern Shore for water infrastructure improvements.

• $1.75 million for Waterway on the Coast of Virginia (90-mile channel from the MD-VA line in Chincoteague Bay to the Chesapeake Bay) – This funding supports maintenance dredging to provide vessels a protected 90-mile north-south route connecting Eastern Shore harbors to one another and to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
• $250,000 for Chincoteague Inlet – This funding supports maintenance dredging to remove shoals in the inlet and surveys to monitor and report channel conditions to users, and to coordinate with the Coast Guard on buoys and channel markers.

The funding is awarded through the Army Corps of Engineers’ “Work Plan,” a source of funds provided by Congress for the Corps to allocate to ongoing projects, according to a news release from Kaine’s office.

“From dredging and beach replenishment to cleaner rivers to new oyster habitats to new infrastructure for the Port of Virginia, these investments will help us protect coastal communities and the environment while growing the regional tourism and port commerce economies,” the senators said in a joint news release.