THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290540
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Motorists' tales of blood, sweat and tears while traveling on heavily congested Va. 168 - the main route in Virginia for Outer Banks' visitors - may be put on paper in a few months.
Officials in Currituck and Dare counties and the city of Chesapeake are asking travelers who use the highway to write letters to their congressmen proclaiming the need for a wider highway north of the state line.
``I think most people will take the time to write a letter, especially after they've been stuck in their car for six, seven or eight hours trying to get to their vacation spot,'' said Charles Hartig, Currituck County's economic development director.
Some 300,000 copies of the open letter to Outer Banks visitors, which Hartig drafted last spring, are circulating in stores, restaurants and rental agencies from Chesapeake's Great Bridge area to North Carolina's barrier islands.
``We're glad that you decided to vacation on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina,'' the letter begins. ``Unfortunately, your journey probably took longer than you anticipated.''
The missive goes on to explain the need to have the two-lane highway expanded to ensure a safer and shorter trip for both local and out-of-town travelers.
The letter is signed by Chesapeake Mayor William F. Ward; B.U. Evans III, chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners; and Robert V. Owens Jr., Evans' counterpart in Dare.
The 10-mile narrow stretch of Va. 168 will be the last traffic bottleneck after N.C. 168 becomes five lanes by 1997. The North Carolina highway expansion, to begin next year, will join the already widened U.S. 158 at Barco.
Battlefield Boulevard was designed for 7,500 cars daily, but now carries three times that many vehicles during the peak tourist season. About 80 percent of the motorists are not local, said Mary Ann Saunders, the assistant to Chesapeake's city manager.
``Everybody's had a bad experience with that road,'' she said.
Saunders told of a Chesapeake church located along Battlefield Boulevard that hired an off-duty policeman to let traffic turn out of the parish on Sundays.
Emergency medical service ambulances have gotten stuck in traffic. Fire departments sometimes have difficulty reaching callers quickly, Saunders said.
Chesapeake officials would like to build a $113 million bypass for North Carolina-bound motorists. They are seeking $9.5 million for engineering and right-of-way costs for a road to run parallel to the existing two-lane highway.
Chesapeake approached Currituck County last winter about the grassroots campaign. Officials will gauge its effectiveness, in part, by the number of tourists who send photocopies of their letters to the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, as requested.
Even if there is a low letter turnout, officials say the join venture is a success.
``I think this is a prime example of what we can do as neighbors helping neighbors,'' Hartig said.
Chesapeake paid about $6,000 for letters to be printed by a Currituck company, which was the lowest bidder, and for it to be distributed ``anywhere visitors would tend to go into,'' Hartig said.
``There's been so much lip service paid to regional cooperation, and here's an example of how it works,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: TRAFFIC
by CNB