A road to economic growth

Virginia is no stranger to transportation woes. It is hard to find a Virginian who doesn’t drive on crumbling roads and bridges every day. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our state’s infrastructure a grade of D-plus. Those outdated roads aren’t just an inconvenience; they also hurt economic growth.

Billions of dollars in new economic activity at the Port of Virginia are being blocked by insufficient transportation infrastructure here in Hampton Roads. To help remedy this huge problem, the American Jobs Act would create about 10,500 Virginia jobs right away by modernizing our highways, transit and rail systems.

As a businessman working to create jobs in Hampton Roads, I’m excited for the provisions in this bill that will not only help businesses hire and expand right away but will also help prepare our country to triumph over our global economic competitors. Funding to improve and upgrade our children’s schools would mean another 5,500 local construction jobs and would help prepare our kids for success in the 21st century economy.

In Virginia and especially in Hampton Roads, troops and veterans are not just our country’s heroes. They are our friends, our neighbors, our family. We know what an inexcusably common injustice it is for these men and women who have sacrificed so much for their country to return from war only to find a new challenge awaiting them: to find a job and make a living.

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