Henrico breaks ground on water main, Richmond-Henrico Turnpike widening

HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) - Henrico County officials broke ground Wednesday on two infrastructure projects: the widening of Richmond-Henrico Turnpike and construction of the Eastern Henrico Transmission Line.

The 42-inch water main will span 13 miles. It will relieve a pinch point around the Richmond Raceway and improve water flow from the western part of the county to the east.

The line will allow areas of central and eastern Henrico to be served by the county’s water treatment facility, if needed, according to a county news release.

Those areas are served primarily by Richmond’s water treatment plant.

“Together, these projects represent an investment of well over $300 million,” said Bentley Chan, director of public utilities for Henrico County.

Chan said the line will help the county’s water system not rely as much on Richmond’s.

“We’re also adding much needed resilience to our public water system, addressing design limitations that were illuminated by the water crisis of 2025,” Chan said.

Chan said the pipe is ductile iron with a special coating to resist corrosion.

Thousands of eastern Henrico customers lost water for days during the January 2025 water crisis because they relied on Richmond for their water.

Tyrone Nelson, Varina District supervisor, said service was disrupted across parts of eastern Henrico for almost a week. His was one of the homes without water.

“I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Going to turn the water faucet on, no water. And then my phone blowing up with text messages and calls of persons doing the same. No water,” Nelson said.

Chan said crews tried to push water from the county’s Three Chopt water treatment plant to customers in the East End during the crisis, but ran into problems.

“Our efforts were largely frustrated. The pipes were simply too small,” Chan said.

Nelson said the county’s water infrastructure, built over many decades, was not designed to serve eastern Henrico from the facility in the Far West End.

“Our residents deserve reliable access to something as fundamental as clean, safe drinking water. Our residents deserve infrastructure that meets their needs. And they deserve to know that when a problem arises, their county, our county, is working to address it,” Nelson said.

Fairfield supervisor Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, chair of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, said the county needs to be able to supply all of its communities.

“Henrico must be able to provide water service to customers in every single one of our communities if issues beyond our control arise. That’s something we simply were not able to do in 2025,” Cooper said.

Henrico fast-tracked the water line. Chan said the Board of Supervisors challenged the department to move forward after the crisis. He said the design is about 50% complete.

Nelson said the full line is still in design. He said the first section is moving forward now because it makes sense to coordinate it with the road project.

Terrell Hughes, director of public works for Henrico County, said the departments combined the work to reduce inconveniences to the public.

“We’re well aware that when we build a roadway project, it can be disruptive to a lot of the people who live in the community that drive the road. Same thing with the water line in a roadway, so we wanted to make sure that we tackled both of those at the same time,” Hughes said.

Chan said the departments plan to work together on more projects.

“Why not try and do more projects together so that residents only see us once?” Chan said.

Cooper said the coordination means “less disruption for residents and no need to come back later and dig up a road that has already been improved.”

Abernathy Construction is the contractor on the Turnpike project. Chan said the contractor has been in discussions with American Pipe, which makes the pipe, to buy it for the project.

The widening runs from East Laburnum Avenue to Hummingbird Road. It will turn a two-lane, undivided road into a four-lane, divided highway.

Cooper said the project includes sidewalks and a lighted shared-use path.

The road project is a $40 million investment that has been more than a decade in the making, according to Cooper.

Voters approved it in a 2016 bond referendum. Cooper and Hughes said the northern section is complete.

Hughes said that section was paid for entirely with local bond money. He said the local money allowed the county to leverage additional state funding for the southern segment.

Hughes said the shared-use path will run along one side of the road and a sidewalk will run along the opposite side. He said the widening will straighten curves and smooth hills.

Cooper said the project will connect residents to destinations.

“These improvements will give residents more ways to travel safely, and connect with the places they need to go, including nearby Laburnum Elementary School and Henrico High School,” Cooper said.

David Abernathy, vice president of Abernathy Construction, said the company is a family business from the Fairfield District of Henrico County.

“Building roads is not so much about moving dirt or laying asphalt. It’s more about connecting people,” Abernathy said.

Chan said the county also has a project in the works to expand the Three Chopt Road facility. He said the facility can now produce about 80 million gallons per day, and the county wants to increase that to 100 million gallons.

Henrico leaders said they hope to have the one-mile portion of pipe installed by early 2028. They said they expect the full 13 miles to be finished around 2030 or early 2031.