Va. governor pitches the ‘Joe Biden Channel’

A proposed 55-foot channel that would allow wider container ships to access the Norfolk, Va., shipyards should be named after Vice President Biden, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said Wednesday.

{mosads}”I can see it now — the Joe Biden Channel,” McAuliffe quipped.

The vice president, McAuliffe, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) gathered in Norfolk on Wednesday for a presentation on Virginia’s port infrastructure needs.

Local officials briefed the lawmakers on how expanding the state’s interstate highway system, constructing a new port gate and widening the channel would improve efficiency and allow more transit through the site. Deepening the channel would enable Virginia to better handle new container ships expected to come into service in the coming years.

The vice president said the nation was “being foolhardy” by not building more ports on the Eastern Seaboard equipped to handle the larger ships. Biden argued investments in ports created good paying jobs and stimulated the economy.

“If we used our heads, we could afford to do all of these things now,” the vice president said.

Biden regularly tours port cities to encourage additional infrastructure spending, visiting cities like Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., earlier this year. The Port of Virginia recently received a $15 million federal grant to improve access to the site and reduce instances of trucks driving on residential streets to access the site.