A new container-on-barge service between Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia may help mitigate the impacts of road congestion while reducing air emissions. The 64 Express will operate on its maiden voyage December 1st, 2008 and offers regular weekly service.
This is the type of service the Maritime Administration hopes to replicate elsewhere around the country as it implements a new “America’s Marine Highway Program” that calls for the Department of Transportation to designate and support specific Marine Highway corridors and projects.
Arrival of the 64 Express coincides with the tabling of a $400-million widening project along 25 miles of Interstate-64 - even though traffic demands in this corridor continue to grow. “This project serves as a model of how transportation planners can use waterborne transportation to help mitigate increased congestion and deferred highway projects, both of which are on the rise as states strive to deal with significant budget cuts,” said Sean T. Connaughton, head of the Maritime Administration.
The 64 Express was made possible by the concerted efforts of a team of public and private interests including the Richmond Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Maritime Administration, the Virginia Port Authority, Port of Richmond, Virginia DOT, Federal Highway Administration, and the private sector.
The goal is to provide an economically feasible service that provides an alternative means of moving freight into and out of the Hampton Roads area, thereby mitigating highway, bridge & tunnel congestion and lessening the environmental impact created by trucks in Hampton Roads and along the I-64 corridor.
In its first year, the service is anticipated to shift up to 4,000 trucks from the Hampton Boulevard area in Norfolk and Interstate-64 to Richmond, both are well known for congestion and gridlock. By its third year of operation, this service could reduce the volume of truck trips along this important corridor by 58,000.
