THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408120286
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 58 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Ronald L. Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The best way to convince the movers and shakers who can do something about the roads leading to the Outer Banks of the urgency of the problem would be to invite them to come down some Saturday afternoon.
There's only one drawback - by the time they got back home they might be so old they'd have forgotten why they came.
Traveling to the North Carolina beaches on weekends speeds up the aging process - not just mentally but also physically.
I heard last week of a Virginia teenager who drove down to celebrate her 16th birthday and was old enough to vote when she got back - and she lives in Chesapeake.
Of course, when she got home she couldn't get to the Chesapeake City Hall to register because she wasn't able to get across Battlefield Boulevard, which also is the Virginia chunk of Route 168, the main highway for northerners heading for the Outer Banks.
That may be a bit of an exaggeration - but calling Route 168 a main highway is nothing short of a whopping lie.
I'd love to see Virginia's governor, George Allen, and the federal and state bureaucrats who decide WHICH highways need fixing, drive to the Outer Banks via 168 on a typical weekend, without their chauffeurs, their cars packed with kids and a couple of surfboards, a barbecue grill and a suitcase or two.
I guarantee that before they reached the Carolina line they'd be willing to listen to any proposal to build a four-lane bypass through Chesapeake.
And by the time they got here and knew they faced the same grueling trip north, they'd probably be willing to pay part of the cost of improving the roads to the Outer Banks out of their own pockets.
I'm sure many of our visitors would, too. To me, the willingness of thousands and thousands of families to make the trip that can take hours and hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic is a mighty tribute to the lure of the Outer Banks. Beach businesses are having a banner year, despite the traffic.
But how many visitors will keep braving the roads in the future if something isn't done to make the trip less of a drag?
North Carolina is putting two more lanes on the bridge across Currituck Sound - a big bottleneck now - and widening the highway to Chesapeake so there'll be four lanes all the way.
But who knows when - and if - Virginia will widen or build a bypass so traffic can flow through Chesapeake?
I can assure you it's no fun for visitors or Chesapeake residents. I still commute on most weekends to my home in Chesapeake. The unfortunate folks who live along Battlefield Boulevard often are virtual prisoners in their homes on weekends because it's almost impossible to maneuver through the unending traffic.
Bobby Owens, the chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, found out recently that most outsiders aren't aware of our traffic problems.
He was host to a couple of North Carolina state senators, picked them up in Manteo and drove them to Duck.
``It took us four and a half hours to get there and come back to Manteo,'' he said. The senators apologized for causing so much trouble, but Owens said it was well worth the time, since they learned first-hand of the traffic crunch.
Chesapeake officials are asking for everyone to send a message to the governor and to Congress about the need for immediate relief. I still say the best way to convince the movers and shakers is to invite them down for a weekend.
Let me see. . .
``Ms. Bond, take a letter: The Honorable George Allen, governor of Virginia: Dear gov, How about bringing the missus and the kids down for a visit Saturday afternoon? Or better yet, how about widening 168 and we'll sign off on Lake Gaston. . . '' by CNB