
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994                   TAG: 9405290116
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

MARKERS MUST BE REMOVED, ENGINEER SAYS

Six small wooden crosses planted along Shore Drive as memorials to motorists who have died in accidents on the highway are a traffic hazard and must be removed, a city engineer said.

"We don't support that type of markings in the road," John Herzke said. "It's kind of macabre, actually."

It is illegal to encroach on a public right of way, he said. And on the heavily traveled highway through Seashore State Park, Herzke said, motorists looking at the crosses could cause accidents.

But Vincent Olivieri, a lawyer who lost his 15-year-old daughter and her friend in a Shore Drive accident last month, doesn't accept that. He said a large sign with flashing lights erected by the city to warn motorists of past fatalities on Shore Drive is a bigger distraction.

And the crosses, he said, send a message.

"It doesn't hurt for them to be a reminder," Olivieri said.

Shore Drive, a four-lane divided highway, runs from the Norfolk city line to the north end of Virginia Beach. Since 1977, the road has claimed 53 lives. The six crosses represent lives that have been lost since 1984.

Four of the crosses are made of small wooden sticks, or cut boards; the two most recent ones are nailed together and made of heavy lumber.

City officials say they understand it is hard to dismiss the emotional attachment the crosses hold for some. But they pose a danger, nonetheless.

"It really doesn't serve the purpose," said Herzke, who plans to instruct his staff to remove the crosses. "It's more of a distraction than a benefit."

Also, he said, allowing the crosses to remain would set an unwanted precedent.

City Councilman Louis R. Jones, a funeral director, said the city has a legal right, and perhaps an obligation, to remove the crosses but that it is a "no-win" situation.

"I don't see much benefit to the city of removing them, as long as they're not a hazard," Jones said. "I question it from the standpoint of the community, if it's the right thing to do."

Lynwood Butner, a traffic engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation in Richmond, said his office over the years has denied several requests from individuals to build or place roadside memorials.

"It's a real tough situation," Butner said. "Each one represents a potential diversion of the driving task."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB