Hampton gets $13 million toward Armistead Ave. flood reduction

September 1, 2023September 1, 2023 HRM Staff City of Hampton, city of Hampton Roads, Financial Grants, flooding, Grant Funding, Hampton Roads Hazard Mitigation plan, Hazard Mitigation Plan, Lake Hampton, Reduction, Resilience, Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM)

By: City of Hampton

Hampton will receive more than $13 million toward the project to rebuild a portion of Armistead Avenue that frequently floods. It was by far the largest of the 17 hazard mitigation grants announced this week.

The grant funding is administered by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, which is paying 10% of the grant. FEMA is providing 90% as part of post-disaster funds. These awards were received under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

The 17 grants total just over $19 million to help the state and localities reduce damage caused by flooding.

Shawn Talmadge, state coordinator of emergency management, noted that it “is imperative that we leverage these opportunities to continue building a more resilient commonwealth.”

The plan is to reduce roadway flooding by elevating a half-mile stretch of the road by as much as 5.25 feet. The new section between Convention Center Drive and the Newmarket Creek bridge will be a minimum of 7.5 feet above sea level. The city has already been awarded $670,695 in SMART SCALE funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation

The project is tied in with the improvements to Lake Hampton to hold more stormwater. It won’t just elevate the road. There will be additional piping under the road, green space on either side, and a bioswale, or vegetated channel for water, in the median.

Hampton is designing its resilient projects to achieve multiple goads — and so the city can utilize multiple grants and other funding sources. The projects will reduce pollution and can attract environmental grants and innovative Environmental Impact. They increase flooding resilience and attract hazard mitigation funding. They also increase green space, multi-use paths, and waterways connections, which can trigger grants for those types of projects.

There are three projects targeted to areas around Newmarket Creek. The expansion and improvement of Lake Hampton broke ground last week. The Big Bethel Blueway, which will transform an existing drainage canal into an innovative stormwater storage facility and public green space, could begin as soon as this fall. The Armistead Avenue improvements are tentatively scheduled to begin in the fall of 2024.

Learn more at hampton.gov/resilienthampton.