THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503280007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Almost overnight, it seems, I-64 between the Battlefield and Greenbrier exits was transmogrified from the prettiest stretch of interstate in South Hampton Roads to the ugliest. On the beauty scale, it went from a 10 to a one, from a forest to a strip mine.
With a mere two lanes in each direction, that stretch of road had become a rush-hour choke point. To make room for more and more lanes, the trees in the median were bulldozed. (The removal of more median trees, toward the Indian River exit, may be slowed while experts figure out what to do about a nest in the way that could belong to an osprey or a horned owl, two protected species.)
The narrow green forest once soothed passing motorists till their pulse rates probably slowed - maybe not during rush hour, but other times in the day. The trees were a blessing that motorists will miss.
Years ago syndicated columnist Donald Kaul compared us to a primitive society that doesn't know what causes babies, except, he said, we don't know what causes so many cars.
What causes them, he said, is roads. When we build roads, cars appear on them. Stop building roads, he said, and fewer cars will appear: People will have to take a bus or trolley or train. No matter how many lanes we build, cars will appear, sooner or later, to clog them, because roads cause cars.
Still, transportation officials had no choice but to widen I-64. The stretch couldn't handle the traffic funneled from six or eight lanes to four.
Actually, officials could have both widened I-64 and saved the narrow forest if they had demolished houses along the road, but that would have been expensive and cruel.
The one bright spot in staff writer Mac Daniel's story on the death of the median was the quote by state transportation planner Frank Dunn: ``Believe me, it bothers me that we had to do that, but when we considered all factors, we really didn't have any other option.''
When road builders lament the loss of trees, progress is being made.
For now, everyone plant a tree. by CNB