The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Virginia State Police (VSP) broke ground on what will be the Richmond region’s first and only joint, state agency traffic and public safety operations center. The new, state-of-the-art, 85,000-square-foot facility will house several of VDOT’s Richmond District departments, including VDOT’s Richmond Traffic Operations Center and VSP’s Richmond Division Emergency Communications Center.
In addition to the joint operations center, the $23 million building will house VDOT and VSP offices, data equipment rooms, conference rooms and other support spaces. It will be a three-story, steel and concrete structure with a brick and aluminum curtainwall exterior with low-sloped roofs. The design incorporates requirements meeting the Virginia High Performance Building Act.
Co-locating VDOT and VSP in the same space will greatly enhance the flow of information and facilitate collaboration among agencies during an emergency or crisis. Supervisors from each agency will be able to share information instantaneously and directly.
“Our Richmond District employees are spread throughout several different buildings that date as far back as the 1930s. The new building will bring them together in one location and improve efficiency and teamwork,” said VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich. “The new operations center will also allow VDOT to collaborate even more closely with our State Police partners day and night.”
In the joint operations center, VDOT will monitor road conditions and traffic signals, dispatch personnel for incident response and provide real-time traffic updates to travelers. The facility will manage more than 60 traffic cameras, 35 changeable message signs and 520 traffic signals.
“In 2017, our Richmond Division troopers were dispatched to more than 190,000 incidents within the division’s 21 counties and four cities,” said Colonel Gary T. Settle, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “This new joint operations center will enable us to manage those incidents in a more efficient and effective capacity, which is a win-win for those living, working and traveling through the Metro-Richmond region.”
Construction is expected to be complete by Fall 2019 and the new facility will be located on the grounds of the current VDOT Richmond District office which remains operational during construction. The project is designed by HGA, Inc.
In 2012, KBS completed the Virginia State Police Public Safety Driver Training Facility. The project includes a three-story, 48,000-square-foot administration and academic building featuring a 120-person dormitory, a cafeteria, driver simulation rooms, classrooms and an observation tower.
“KBS’ successful performance of the VSP Public Safety Driver Training Facility at Fort Pickett and other similar projects established the precedence for our prequalification and ultimate win of this project,” said Steve Satterfield, vice president of preconstruction services.
