Henrico County Breaks Ground on Water Line and Road Projects

Henrico County is spending over $300 million to ensure its residents never again face the kind of systemic failure that left thousands without running water during the winter of 2025. On Wednesday, county officials broke ground on a dual-pronged infrastructure push that pairs the widening of the Richmond-Henrico Turnpike with the construction of the Eastern Henrico Transmission Line, a massive water main designed to decouple the county’s eastern districts from a precarious reliance on Richmond’s water treatment facilities.

In January 2025, a water crisis left thousands of eastern Henrico customers dry for nearly a week. At the time, the county attempted to reroute water from its own Three Chopt facility to the East End, but the effort failed because the existing pipes were simply too small to handle the volume. Now, the county is fast-tracking a 13-mile, 42-inch ductile iron water main to eliminate that pinch point near the Richmond Raceway and provide a redundant lifeline for the community.

The 2025 Crisis and the Push for Water Sovereignty

For years, eastern Henrico functioned on a fragmented system, relying primarily on Richmond’s water treatment plant. When the 2025 crisis hit, that dependency became a liability. Varina District supervisor Tyrone Nelson, who lived through the outage in his own home, described the experience as a sudden, jarring loss of a fundamental necessity, noting that his phone “blew up” with messages from neighbors facing the same void.

“Our residents deserve reliable access to something as fundamental as clean, safe drinking water,” Nelson said. “Our residents deserve infrastructure that meets their needs.”

The new transmission line changes the math of the region’s water security. By creating a high-capacity link from the western part of the county to the east, Henrico can now serve its own communities independently if external issues arise. Bentley Chan, director of public utilities for Henrico County, noted that the new pipes feature a special corrosion-resistant coating to ensure longevity. To further bolster this resilience, the county is also planning to expand the Three Chopt Road facility, aiming to increase its daily production from 80 million gallons to 100 million gallons.

Coordinating the Turnpike Widening to Minimize Chaos

While the water main is the strategic priority, the physical work is being tied to a long-awaited road project. The Richmond-Henrico Turnpike, currently a two-lane undivided road, is being transformed into a four-lane divided highway stretching from East Laburnum Avenue to Hummingbird Road. This $40 million investment has been more than a decade in the making, originally approved by voters in a 2016 bond referendum.

The decision to dig for the water line and pave the road simultaneously is a pragmatic attempt to avoid “construction fatigue.” Terrell Hughes, director of public works, admitted that roadway projects are inherently disruptive. By coordinating the two, the county avoids the absurdity of paving a new road only to rip it back up months later to lay a pipe.

The turnpike project isn’t just about adding lanes for cars. It includes a lighted shared-use path on one side and a sidewalk on the other, designed to connect students and residents to Laburnum Elementary and Henrico High School. The project also addresses safety by straightening curves and smoothing out hills that have plagued the stretch for years.

Local Bonds Help Secure State Funding for Turnpike

The funding for these projects reflects a strategic use of local and state resources. The northern section of the turnpike was completed using local bond money, which Hughes says helped the county secure additional state funding for the current southern segment.

While the Board of Supervisors pushed the utilities department to move quickly after the 2025 crisis, the full 13-mile water line is still in the design phase. The county is essentially building the project in pieces, starting with a one-mile section to align with the roadwork, rather than waiting for a master blueprint for the entire 13-mile span.

This phased approach allows for immediate progress but leaves the county managing a complex, multi-year rollout. The one-mile portion is expected to be installed by early 2028, while the full transmission line likely won’t be operational until 2030 or early 2031.

A Community Connected by More Than Asphalt

For the contractors involved, the project is a local affair. Abernathy Construction, a family business based in the Fairfield District, is handling the turnpike widening. David Abernathy, vice president of the company, framed the work as more than a technical exercise in moving dirt and laying asphalt, describing it as a means of “connecting people.”

Groundbreaking for Eastern Henrico Transmission Line and Richmond-Henrico Turnpike improvements

Fairfield supervisor Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, chair of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, made it clear that the inability to provide water to every community during the previous crisis was an unacceptable gap in governance.

As the county moves toward a 2031 completion date for the full water system, the immediate focus remains on the turnpike. Residents will see the lanes widen and the sidewalks appear, but the most important part of this project is the 42-inch iron pipe hidden beneath the surface—the invisible insurance policy that ensures the faucets keep running.