THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412150174
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: The Road Warrior
SOURCE: The Road Warrior
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
Road got a cute post card in the mail a week or so ago. It has a picture of Snoopy and Woodstock riding a roller coaster, with their mouths hanging wide open. On the front and on the back was an appropriate message from K. Jensen:
``The speed limit on Independence Boulevard (somewhere between Witchduck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard) had recently been changed from 35 to 45 mph. All of us traveling that road many times daily were thrilled! All of a sudden, the speed limit has dropped back to 35 mph. What a disappointment! What's going on?''
The answer to K's question is simple: Construction's what's going on.
Work on Independence Boulevard Phase IVa began on Nov. 15. The project calls for widening Independence Boulevard from Jeanne Street to Pembroke Boulevard from two to three lanes in each direction.
The project cost is about $4.8 million and should be completed by next December.
After this project comes Independence Boulevard Phase IVb and IVc. Phase IVb is the improvement of the Haygood/Independence intersection. Phase IVc will tie the two projects together from Pembroke Boulevard to Haygood Road.
So far, this latest addition to Independence Boulevard hasn't caused any major traffic congestion. However, as evidenced in the many mounds of dirt, sand and uprooted trees, the construction's bound to irritate commuters before it's over.
The biggest irritant to Road is that it seems like they posted the 35 mph speed limit way before anyone was out there doing any work. Give us a break. It's hard to do a 35 mph crawl in a construction zone that's completely devoid of human life. It's also sad to see mature trees knocked to the ground for firewood.
Of course, we must remember, it's all in the name of expansion.
FYI: All branches of the Department of Motor Vehicles will be closed Friday, Dec. 23 through Monday, Dec. 26. Also, all branches will be closed Monday, Jan. 2.
SNARLS OF THE WEEK
The following people called Road's INFOLINE number with their complaints.
Nancy Ronald, Chick's Beach. I'm calling about the intersection of Pleasure House Road and Shore Drive. Like most of the people at Chick's Beach, we use it to head to work in the morning and I think they changed the timing of the light so that many cars can't get onto Pleasure House and out.
Just in the past two weeks we found ourselves waiting as much as 10 minutes at that light. Can you check that out? Thanks very much.
RW: Man, 10 minutes? That's enough time to eat a pizza or listen to one rock 'n' roll marathon on the radio! I'll see if I can talk an engineer into checking the signal's timing. Of course, we'll make sure to tell him to pack a lunch and his favorite music tape when he goes to check on it.
Kathy, Kings Grant. I'm calling because I'm very frustrated with the traffic light at the intersection of Kings Grant and Lynnhaven roads, which I travel through at least twice a day.
A motorist traveling south on Kings Grant has a choice of two lanes when he approaches the light - the right lane for traffic turning right on Lynnhaven or continuing straight on Kings Grant; the left lane is for left turns only onto North Lynnhaven. The problem is the light is tripped only by traffic turning left. Those of us who are continuing straight on Kings Grant have to sit at the light through multiple cycles waiting and hoping for someone to come up along side us in the left turn lane so the light will trip. Can you help?
RW: Specifically, you mean the Kings Grant and North Lynnhaven intersection? It could be that this signal is still on the sensor, rather than being timed by a computer, as the majority of the signals are now.
That probably means that a ``loop'' has gone bad. Loops are the actual wire under the ground that detects when a vehicle is there. Road'll alert engineers and see what they think. Thanks for calling.
Sherry Parker, Virginia Beach. I'm very new to the area and have to commute from Virginia Beach to the Norfolk Naval Station. I don't understand why, if I leave at the same time each day, some days the traffic's really light and some days it's really heavy and it's not always correlating when the carriers are in or when a certain ship gets in.
I don't understand the psychology or traffic pattern behind the commute. Some days I breeze in and some days I'm stuck for 45 minutes trying to get in.
If you have any answers I'd greatly appreciate it.
RW: Hmmm. Well, Sherry, Road can only tell you Road's observations and that is that the commuters around here don't use any form of psychology, except maybe reverse psychology.
There's no rhyme or reason to a lot that goes on on our highways, including the driving.
John Burgoon, No Address Given. Calling to comment on your answer about the light at Pembroke Boulevard and Independence. (Road told a caller that if people would pay attention and hit the gas when the light turns green, maybe everyone would make it through . . . )
If people jump at that light as soon as it turns green invariably they are going to catch the front end of a car that's running a red light on Independence. I think that's probably one of the stupidest answers you've ever given. I normally agree with you. Bye.
RW: Hang around, John. Road's sure you'll find another answer you won't like. But, in this situation, it's true. Road has been behind people who were reading, applying make-up, etc., at that light and if people would just wake up and pay attention many more cars could make it through. Because, frankly, Road doesn't think it's light timing that's the problem there. For some reason, that particular intersection seems to put everyone to sleep.
Stan Ginish, ``Citizen's Opposed to School Buses in Residential Areas'' (COBRA). Hey, Road, I'm really surprised at your answer to Mike last week that they don't have a law (about buses parking in residential areas). They do have a law. The law specifically states that vehicles of that size and that nature are not allowed to be parked in residential areas. However, the city of Virginia Beach doesn't want to enforce it.
So, please let people know. Those buses do not belong there and they need to holler.
RW: Stan, the law can be interpreted any number of ways, and the city folk will be the first to say so. Not to mention that the City Code does not specifically say, ``school buses.'' So, the law is arguable.
But, that doesn't mean that folks can't rally to support their cause. In fact, if anyone's interested, Stan's started an organization to help keep buses off residential streets. You can contact him at: Attention: Director (COBRA).
Stanley L. Ginish Jr.
1401 Waterbury Place
Virginia Beach, Va., 23456-1654.
Telephone/Fax: 471-2478. MEMO: Tell the Road Warrior about your motoring problems. Get 'em off your
chest. Call on Infoline, at 640-5555. After a brief message, dial ROAD
(7623). When directed, press 1 to deliver your message, and 1 again to
sign off.
Or, write: The Road Warrior, Virginia Beach Beacon, 4565 Virginia
Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va., 23462.
Don't forget to include your name, address and neighborhood.
by CNB