With Buc-ee’s coming nearby, interchange project in New Kent scores $18M in extra funding

The I-64 interchange at Exit 211 in New Kent is slated to get more than $18 million in Smart Scale funding for a project to reconfigure the exit into a diverging diamond. (Jack Jacobs photo)

A project intended to improve an interchange in a growing commercial hub of New Kent is slated for an eight-figure boost from the state.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board recently approved an updated list of projects to receive funds in the latest Smart Scale round, which now includes money for a diverging diamond interchange and other investments at Exit 211 on Interstate 64.

The inclusion of $18.2 million for the interchange was a change in fortune for the project. New Kent had requested $46.9 million in Smart Scale funding for the project, though state officials initially had included no money for it in the short list of funding recommendations announced earlier this year.

The project involves the reconfiguration of the Exit 211 interchange into a diverging diamond, which would feature travel lanes that temporarily cross sides with the intention to better facilitate traffic flow. It would also involve the construction of a two-lane bridge over the interstate, which along with the existing bridge over I-64 would create a four-lane divided road for that section of Route 106.

Signals would be placed on Route 106’s intersections with the I-64 ramps, as well as a shared-use path on Route 106 from Jimmy Burrell Lane to the roundabout near the county’s welcome center.

Ultimately, the New Kent project was included on an amended Smart Scale list approved last month by the CTB, a governor-appointed board that oversees transportation funding and statewide planning.

The list, known as the “consensus scenario,” was informed by feedback from CTB members and input gathered at a series of public meetings held in the spring, said Brooke Jackson, Smart Scale’s program manager. She added that the New Kent project was able to secure a level of alternative funding that led to a revised ask of the Smart Scale program.

“It’s reduced due to leverage from external partners. A lot of work was done there to bring more money to the table,” Jackson said of the New Kent project during the CTB meeting in May.

There’s still more work to be done.

The project is anticipated to cost a total of $75.2 million and would be financed through multiple sources. Currently, New Kent has more than $46 million lined up for the project and efforts to secure more funding are underway, Amy Inman, the county’s transportation development director, said in an interview this week.

In addition to the Smart Scale funding of more than $18 million, nearly the same amount is expected from the Central Virginia Transportation Authority, and at least $10 million in local funding is anticipated from New Kent, Inman said.

The project doesn’t currently have an anticipated start date, she said.

New Kent’s Smart Scale win comes amid ongoing interest in commercial development near the Exit 211 interchange.

Minneapolis-based retailer Target earlier this year bought 164 acres in the New Kent City Center development to serve as the site of a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center.

In 2024, Maryland-based developer Matan Cos. spent $15 million to acquire nearly 300 acres around an 800,000-square-foot AutoZone distribution facility at the north end of the mostly undeveloped industrial park. Matan intends to build up to 2 million square feet of industrial warehouse space across several buildings on the property.

On the north side of the Exit 211 interchange, Texas-based convenience store chain Buc-ee’s is planning to open a location on a site it purchased in 2023.

In addition to the creation of a diverging diamond interchange, improvements would be made to Route 106, which runs over the interstate. (Courtesy OIPI)

Across the state, six projects were added to the latest Smart Scale list and six were dropped following state staff recommendations earlier this year. The Exit 211 project in New Kent was one of two Richmond-region projects added. Also new is $3.6 million for improvements to Route 60 in Powhatan between Academy Road and Old Buckingham Road, which similarly had been pitched but initially was passed over.

Formal adoption of the sixth round of Smart Scale projects and their incorporation into the CTB’s six-year improvement plan is expected later this month.

More than $360 million of Smart Scale funds are now anticipated to support 16 transportation projects through the Richmond region. Richmond-area governments and planning groups had submitted 65 projects for funding. Projects are scored on their impacts on things like congestion reduction, economic development and safety.

The Richmond-region projects with the biggest funding requests included improvements to the Interstate 95 interchanges in Ashland and Chester and a project on Belt Boulevard in Richmond to support a new GRTC Pulse rapid-transit bus line.

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