Transportation 2024: STEPHEN C. BRICH

With 26 years in transportation, Brich oversees VDOT’s almost 58,000 miles of road, 21,000 bridges and other structures, six tunnels and three ferry systems. Appointed in 2018, he manages approximately 7,700 VDOT employees and an $8 billion annual budget for the nation’s third largest transportation agency.

April 17 was a monumental day in the history of the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion project when Mary the tunnel boring machine broke through the headwall to complete the first bored tunnel in Virginia. The project is expected to be completed in February 2027 — a year past its original schedule, but six months sooner than predicted earlier this year.

VDOT broke ground on the new I-64 Gap Widening Project in November 2023.  The $756 million project will widen 29 miles of roadway in New Kent and James City counties from two lanes to three lanes in each direction. The overall project, divided into three independent sections of I-64, has an expected completion date of spring 2028.

A Hampton Roads native and graduate of Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia, Brich serves on the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board.