First major Virginia Beach flood protection project complete, but not without challenges

Yahoo

03-04-2025

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The first major project of Virginia Beach's robust flood protection program is complete.
The Windsor Woods tide gate is now in place to help create extra storage for stormwater in Lake Windsor in the event of a major storm.
Planning for the $21.2 million piece of infrastructure started the year after the remnants of Hurricane Matthew flooded much of the Windsor Woods and Princess Anne Plaza neighborhoods.
The bond referendum, approved by Virginia Beach voters in 2021, accelerated the project's timeline.
Mike Tippin, who leads the city's stormwater engineering office, said it's 'awesome' to see the tide gate functional. However he said inflation, workforce shortages and permitting processes have made tackling the city's entire flood prevention itinerary quite daunting.
'We've had our gas pedal through the floor board just to deliver these projects,' Tippin said. 'So many projects have been advancing through, from procurement to design to construction. It's been a lot.'
Flooding poses problems for just about every part of Hampton Roads, but Virginia Beach is uniquely suited to get hit from every angle: the Atlantic Ocean pushes in from the East, the Chesapeake Bay from the North, the Elizabeth River from the West and the Currituck Sound from the South.
Without additional flood mitigation projects, annualized losses from floods in Virginia Beach are projected to grow from about $75 million to $350 million by 2060, according to a 2021 analysis conducted by Old Dominion University.
It's one of the reasons following the years of study, more than 40 solutions were recommended — , and .
The November 2021 referendum allowed the city to borrow $567.5 million to fund 21 flood protection projects that'll be completed in six to seven years.
Tippin said most of those deadlines will still be met.
'In some form or fashion? Yes, we will,' Tippin said. 'Meaning it might not be every single phase of the project, because with costs coming in so high, we're looking at how do we strategically phase projects now.'
Project costs have risen 30% to 35% since projects were priced in 2019-2020, Tippin said, with the total price tag now estimated to exceed $1.1 billion.
'The cost of concrete, pipe, oil, anything like that has skyrocketed and has not come down yet,' Tippin said.
He also said Virginia Beach isn't the only community looking to make big changes.
'So much construction work going on, all the Hampton Roads cities are experiencing higher prices with construction because there's so much work going on with VDOT and all the other municipalities in the area, Tippin said.
Virginia needs to add thousands of construction workers to keep up on projects
Finally, he said permitting has been tough.
'Environmental permitting has been very difficult,' Tippin said. 'It's been tough because they're they're new, doing marsh terraces down there in the southern rivers, it's something new. The permitting agencies have not really gone through this. So there's a lot of … detailed looks in view of this.'
Still, he said taxpayers should be confident that their money is being well-spent.
In the case of Windsor Woods, Tippin said many more houses are now protected from flooding.
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