A groundbreaking ceremony was held Oct. 15 for the $2.3 billion Long Bridge Project, which is slated to boost passenger rail capacity over the Potomac River between Arlington, Va., and Washington, D.C., and to relieve one of the largest rail traffic bottlenecks on the East Coast.
Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA), together with officials including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), as well as U.S. Reps. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), participated in the ceremony.
The project—the largest of the commonwealth’s Transforming Rail in Virginia projects—will add a new two-track railroad bridge next to the existing 119-year-old Long Bridge, doubling rail capacity and alleviating congestion, according to VPRA (see renderings above). The new bridge will aid the commonwealth in separating passenger rail from freight rail.
The existing two-track Long Bridge, owned and operated by CSX, operates at 98% capacity during peak periods with nearly 80 CSX freight, Amtrak intercity passenger rail, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail trains crossing it daily, carrying up to 1.3 million Amtrak and 4.5 million VRE riders annually.
Construction activities including site preparation will begin over the next few weeks with large-scale construction starting in 2025, according to VPRA. Substantial project completion is expected in 2030.
The Long Bridge Project will also create a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the river, connecting Arlington’s Long Bridge Park and the Mount Vernon Trail to the District’s East and West Potomac parks. Additional elements along the 1.8-mile project corridor include improvements to five other bridges and related railroad infrastructure (see above).
“In Virginia, our crippling traffic has truly become a bipartisan issue, and the Long Bridge groundbreaking represents our bipartisan solution,” VPRA Executive Director DJ Stadtler said. “But it’s not just Virginians who will benefit. Travelers from Boston to Miami will feel the effects of this project, and through our Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative, VPRA’s capital investments will add $7.2 billion to our economy.”
VPRA last December was awarded a grant totaling $729 million from the Federal Railroad Administration via the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program, helping it to complete the final design and construction of the Long Bridge and Phase 2 projects of the $3.7 billion Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative. It has also received a $20 million RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Also last December, VPRA selected Skanska/Flatiron Joint Venture for the Long Bridge-North Package and Flatiron/Herzog Joint Venture for the Franconia-Springfield Bypass.
According to VPRA, the Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative calls for moving Virginians by using an existing rail corridor and building new infrastructure. When complete, it will enable Amtrak Virginia service to offer a total of 13 daily roundtrips up from eight currently, traveling throughout the commonwealth and connecting to the Northeast Corridor.
VPRA began the initiative by purchasing rail right-of-way from CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS). In the past two years, VPRA said it has acquired nearly 500 miles of railroad right-of-way in corridors along I-95, I-64, I-85, I-81, and I-66. In September, VPRA signed a new deal with NS to purchase the Manassas Line, and gain access to its main line for service to the New River Valley. With the NS agreement as well as a similar 2021 agreement with CSX, VPRA said it can now work with VRE to expand its service on both the Manassas and Fredericksburg lines including offering evening and weekend trains. One key milestone to the second wave of VRE expansion, VPRA said, is completion of the Long Bridge Project.
Virginia launched its first state-supported train Oct. 1, 2009, a roundtrip between Washington, D.C., and Lynchburg, Va. Ridership that first year was expected to be about 30,000 passengers; it reached more than 100,000 passengers. According to VPRA, ridership has grown since that first year; during calendar year 2023, more than 1.32 million passengers traveled on Amtrak Virginia, and so far this calendar year, ridership is up 7.3% compared with last year. Currently, Amtrak Virginia offers one seat rides from Virginia to New York or Boston along with other destinations on the Northeast Corridor, with three daily roundtrips from Norfolk, two daily roundtrips from Roanoke and Newport News, and one daily roundtrip from Richmond.
