It was only fitting that Virginia State Police Trooper Chad Dermyer be honored by having a bridge named after him, Del. Keith Hodges (R-Urbanna) said during a ceremony last week in Newport News.

After all, Hodges pointed out, Dermyer had devoted his career to building bridges, to “joining folks together,” both as a Marine and a law enforcement officer. It was a career tragically cut short on March 31, 2016, when the 37-year-old Gloucester resident was shot and killed after approaching a man in the Richmond Greyhound bus station while conducting a training exercise.

Family, friends and Dermyer’s brothers and sisters in blue attended last Thursday’s dedication ceremony at Newport News Police Headquarters, officially naming the Route 143 bridge in Newport News over Interstate 64 the “Trooper Chad Phillip Dermyer Memorial Bridge.”

Among those in attendance was Dermyer’s widow, Michelle, their children Phillip and Page, and his father, John. Dign...