CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The city of Chesapeake will get more than $1 million in federal money to make improvements at the Portlock Road train crossing, where two people have been killed in the past five years, Rep. Bobby Scott announced.

Grade crossing-related improvements will take place on Norfolk Southern-owned infrastructure and Amtrak’s DC-Norfolk route in Chesapeake after Scott asked the federal Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration for the funding, made possible, he said, through the bipartisan infrastructure law that Scott supported and President Biden signed into law.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic investment in our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, ports and rail systems,” Scott said. “And it continues to deliver for Virginia. This grant funding will help Chesapeake reduce delays and congestion at the Portlock Road crossing. This will improve convenience and safety for my constituents. I was proud to have supported this funding and will continue advocating for Hampton Roads to reap the benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

The Portlock Road crossing has eight tracks and has frequent delays, Scott said in his letter in support of the funding.

“These delays can cause trains to be stopped for hours, which in turns blocks all vehicle traffic, leading pedestrians to cross the intersection on foot,” Scott wrote in his September letter to DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration. “These pedestrian crossings raise safety concerns which are heightened by the fact that the crossing is located less than a half a mile away from an elementary school.”

Last July, Chesapeake City Council voted to start the process to eventually build an overpass to take vehicles over the eight tracks that Portlock Road currently crosses over at grade level in South Norfolk.

The Portlock Road crossing has been reported to the Federal Railroad Administration, more than any other crossing in the city, for being blocked with stationary trains for an extended period of time.