The economic activity of any region depends greatly upon its transportation facilities. Without an efficient transportation system, goods—either raw materials or finished products or farm produce—cannot be moved from one point to another, workers cannot reach their jobs and consumers cannot reach their markets. Virginia is particularly fortunate in having a network of key railroads, excellent highways, deep harbors and modern airports. Trains, buses, trucks, passenger cars, boats, ocean vessels and aircraft—all play a basic role in the economic life of the state.
Numerous railroads provide interstate as well as intrastate service: the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad connects Washington with Richmond; running over the R.F.&P. tracks and continuing in a north-south direction between Richmond and the North Carolina border are the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line railroads; the Southern Railway runs diagonally from Washington across Virginia to the North Carolina border near Danville, with another route from West Point through Richmond and Danville; the Atlantic and Danville Railroad operates between Danville and Norfolk; the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad runs diagonally from Washington to Gordonsville where it connects either in a westerly direction with West Virginia near Covington or in an easterly direction with Newport News; the Norfolk and Western Railroad operates in an east-west direction from Norfolk through Lynchburg and Roanoke to West Virginia; and the Virginian Railway (now a branch of the N. & W.) connects Suffolk with Roanoke and West Virginia. The Pennsylvania Railroad has a branch line crossing the Eastern Shore from Maryland to Cape Charles while the Baltimore & Ohio has a branch through the Shenandoah Valley.
Virginia has a very modern system of primary and secondary roads which permit quick and comfortable motor transportation between urban, suburban and rural points. In addition, Virginia has within its borders several vital links in the national system of interstate and defense highways scheduled for final completion throughout the United States by 1972. In Virginia, the national system involves one link cutting across the western part of the state in a southwesterly direction (Interstate Number 81); a second link cutting across the eastern part of the state in a north-south direction (Number 85 and Number 95) to supercede U. S. Routes 1 and 301; a third link running east-west between Norfolk, Richmond, Staunton and the West Virginia border (Number 64); a fourth link running east-west between northern Virginia near Washington and West Virginia via Strasburg (Number 66) and a fifth link crossing the southwestern part of the state in a north-south direction (Number 77). In terms of total designated mileage of the whole interstate system, Virginia is one of 16 states to have over 1000 miles within its borders. Although most of the interstate system in Virginia will not be completed for a few more years, some portions of the five Virginia links are already open for traffic.
A series of bridges, many toll-free, help the growth of transportation. Construction plans for one of the most difficult water crossings are underway in connection with a $200,000,000 bridge-tunnel to run 17½ miles across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the Hampton Roads area. This crossing will run from Chesapeake Beach near Norfolk to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. When completed in 1964, the bridge-tunnel crossing will replace ferryboats, the only type of public transportation heretofore available between these points.
Five major commercial air lines serve Virginia: American, Capital, Eastern, National and Piedmont Lines. In addition to the Washington National Airport near Alexandria and the Dulles International Airport at Chantilly, which serve the northern Virginia area, airports contributing to the economic progress of the state are located at Richmond, Bristol, Danville, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk-Portsmouth and Roanoke.
SUMMARY
An unusually large number of individuals in the Commonwealth—civilian and military—work in either federal, state or local government employment. In proportion to the total population of a state, the greatest concentration of federal government employment within a single state is found in Virginia.
If one considers civilian employees solely, the largest number of employees in the state is engaged in manufacturing. The number of employees in manufacturing first surpassed the number of employees in agriculture in the 1940's. The manufacturing industries which have the largest number of employees are textile, chemical and chemical products, food and kindred products, and lumber and wood products; these employees constitute nearly 50% of all workers engaged in manufacturing.