THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503030195
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
SOME OF THE CITY'S most popular routes near the northern end of Battlefield Boulevard received a failing grade last month in a study of Chesapeake roads and intersections completed by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
The study supports what motorists have been saying for some time now: Traffic is terrible.
With the worst possible rating of ``F,'' the area around the busy Wal-Mart Way intersection on Battlefield Boulevard, with its growing average of 69,000 vehicles a day, earned a failing grade from the commission.
``The only thing worse than an `F,' the computer can't compute,'' said city traffic engineer Bernard L. Whitlock.
The commission's study measured the conditions of various road segments and determined a level of service for each. Its results, based on traffic congestion and traffic signal efficiency, are used by the Planning Department and Public Works Department as a yardstick for development and rezoning reviews. Developers new to the city may also request to see the study when considering moving businesses here, Whitlock said.
Even before the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club shopping center was completed in 1992, Battlefield Boulevard, a main artery for the city, received only a passing grade of a ``C'' from the commission, he said. Just after the center's grand opening that fall, the grade slipped to a ``D,'' with about 46,000 cars a day traveling through the area.
With Battlefield Boulevard's traffic count growing by 1,000 to 2,000 more cars each summer, Whitlock said, the traffic grade for the area hovered until recently at an ``E,'' just one mark above failure.
``We have done everything that we can possibly think of,'' he said. ``Do away with the traffic signal altogether is what we should do. . . . If you're looking at it from a traffic engineer's solution, that's what we need to do.''
The commission's study shows that the area north of Kempsville Road and Great Bridge Boulevard on Battlefield Boulevard also received an ``F'' rating. In Great Bridge, the area between Johnstown Road and Kempsville Road and the intersection of Cedar Road and Battlefield Boulevard services about 33,000 vehicles a day, Whitlock said. The study gave that area a low ``E'' for its level of service.
The commission's study happens to come at a time when storekeepers along the congested northern part of Battlefield Boulevard are collecting signatures for a petition to receive a left turn signal in the northbound lane at the Wal-Mart Way intersection. The petition signing began in late January and has yielded about 3,000 signatures so far.
``You're really taking your life into your own hands trying to cross Battlefield Boulevard,'' said Mark Quinton Jr., a manager at Schlotsky's Deli in the new Battlefield Marketplace, where the petition was initiated by Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, the center's real estate agency.
The intersection has its own separate left turn lane but no green arrow. Much of the time, an endless stream of approaching cars prohibits motorists in the turn lane from going.
``It's ridiculous! I just waited eight minutes to turn,'' said Sandra Thompson, who was signing the petition at the Amoco service station across from the Day's Inn.
Several motorists who stopped for gas said that they were forced to drive through yellow and red lights in order to turn left and escape the constant flow of southbound traffic coming off the interstate. Others said they had long given up on that turn lane and found alternate routes to get to their destinations.
``Now the traffic on the road is to the point where people are scooting across when the light is red,'' said Charles R. Scaglione, owner of the gas station. ``They're just getting across by any means they can. We have had several accidents because people try to beat the light.''
Scaglione said he's made two requests for a turn signal in the past two years. Both times he was rejected. He hopes the 1,500 signatures he has collected in the past two weeks will help to win a green arrow at the intersection.
``They went so far as to put a turn lane in, and it looks like they forgot to put the turn signal in,'' he said. ``It's like they built a pool and put a diving board in and they forgot to fill it with water. What good is it?''
But according to Whitlock, it's not that simple. A yellow turn light may seem like the ideal solution to motorists, but a green arrow could mean significantly more traffic congestion and back-ups onto Interstate 64.
``You look at your traffic signals like a pie,'' he explained. ``To give one side something, you have to keep cutting and making everybody else's share smaller.'' Adding a turn signal could also mean that lights for miles down the road in both directions would need to be reprogrammed and re-timed to avoid problems.
``We don't have the money to put in a grade separation,'' Whitlock said. ``We've done the most that we can do.''
When the Wal-Mart shopping center was built, a ``fly-over'' or overpass much like the one leading off the highway to the Hampton Coliseum should have been built, he said. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
TIED UP IN TRAFFIC
[Color Photo]
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Traffic backs up at the northern end of Battlefield Boulevard as a
police officer directs automobiles around an accident.
Mark Quinton tries to get to Schlotsky's Deli across Battlefield
Boulevard.
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Cars turning into Wal-Mart at Battlefield Boulevard have a left turn
lane, but no green arrow.
Staff chart by JOHN EARLE
YOUR ROADS AND THEIR CONDITION
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB