THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260182
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
A City Council vote approving collections of tolls on the proposed Pinners Point Connector is a necessary evil to pressure the state to get on with building the missing link between the West Norfolk Bridge and Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway to Midtown Tunnel. It might not be fair but it might be the only way to get construction started.
The tolls would make up the gap in the money available and the cost of the project. If continued indefinitely, the tolls also could spur construction of another tunnel.
The missing Pinners Point Connector is an important link for port traffic and regional through traffic. And we need to get that traffic out of Port Norfolk, one of the historic neighborhoods which are so important to bringing newcomers to old Portsmouth. Port Norfolk never will reach full potential until the proposed connector is constructed.
Portsmouth and Norfolk both are contributing some of their urban high construction money to the project to get it off the ground. The tolls will force the through traffic and the port traffic to help pay for it.
But local citizens should not have to pay. One proposal would permit local use of the Western Freeway without payment of a toll. But that plan does not seem written in stone and possibly will not materialize.
City offcials should do everything they can to get local traffic free access to the West Norfolk Bridge between Port Norfolk and West Norfolk even if it otherwise must travel on West Norfolk Road in Churchland and Bayview Boulevard in Port Norfolk. It would not be right to require residents of that quarter of town to journey all around via Cedar Lane and High Street to get to the downtown side of the river if they chose not to pay a toll to drive across town. by CNB