Recap from the Road: Norfolk Harbor Gets Major Investment from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

By Shalanda Young, OMB Director

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to tour Norfolk Harbor alongside Senator Mark Warner, Representative Bobby Scott, and Representative Elaine Luria. Norfolk Harbor is one of the fastest growing ports in America. Last year, it handled 67 percent more containers than it did 10 years ago. Thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the port will be even better positioned to get goods off ships and onto shelves for families across the country.

I was in Norfolk to mark the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investment in one of our nation’s most important ports. We’ve committed $225 million to deepen and widen the Norfolk Harbor’s shipping channels, which will make navigation safer and provide easier access for commercial vessels, faster movement of goods, and significant new economic opportunities for the region. And it’s going to help bring down costs for families across Virginia and the country by strengthening our supply chains.

This investment is in addition to another $150 million recently announced by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect families and businesses in Norfolk and across the region. The funding will go toward building floodwalls, storm surge barriers, levees, and other flood-control measures to increase resilience to climate change.

This funding is possible because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which the President fought hard to make law. For decades, we’ve underinvested in our country’s infrastructure—including key ports and waterways like Norfolk Harbor—and the neglect has left our infrastructure vulnerable, struggling to keep up with our strong economic recovery.

President Biden knows that modern, resilient infrastructure is critical to reducing costs for American families, strengthening our economy, and creating good-paying jobs. In the six months since he signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Administration has hit the ground running to deliver results, announcing funding for 4,300 projects spanning more than 3,200 communities across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Soon we’ll be able to see how these projects make a difference in places like Norfolk, and the communities that rely on ports every day. I can’t wait to go back to the Harbor to see those changes.