THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9506280008
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
After a year's absence, the name Hampton Roads is back on the Virginia road map.
On the first 2.5 million copies printed under the Allen administration for free distribution, the name Hampton Roads was replaced by the designation ``Tidewater and Peninsula,'' as though the Peninsula and Tidewater were separate.
The fact that the Hampton Roads name disappeared from Virginia's own highway maps illustrates the difficulty public and private officials will have selling this area as a cohesive region called Hampton Roads.
The change to ``Tidewater and Peninsula'' was made when the map inset for Hampton Roads was enlarged to include Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. The new inset is a substantial improvement over the old one, which was designated ``Hampton Roads Area,'' because the new one emphasizes that Williamsburg and Virginia Beach and many tourist attractions in-between are part of the same region - a point tourism officials are trying to ram home.
Donna Purcell Mayes, assistant public-affairs director for the Virginia Department of Transportation, explained the dropping of ``Hampton Roads'': ``We weren't certain that `Hampton Roads' still accurately described the enlarged inset. We also were under the impression that the region's citizens made a distinction between the Peninsula and Tidewater, so we renamed the new inset to reflect that.''
Actually, Hampton Roads includes Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown - 15 counties and cities in all. And partly at the suggestion of Senate Majority Leader Hunter B. Andrews of Hampton, a new shipment of almost 2 million Virginia maps again designates the inset for this area as Hampton Roads. It could be a while, however, before the first 2.5 million copies are all distributed.
And so goes the often-losing game to gain respect and fame for the Hampton Roads name.
The cause would be aided if the name Hampton Roads appeared not just on maps but on road signs.
About 10 years ago, when the I-295 bypass east of Richmond reached south to I-64, and again about five years ago, when the I-295 bypass reached north to I-64, state highway officials considered having exit signs say Hampton Roads.
``We wondered,'' said Mark T. Hodges, transportation-engineering-programs supervisor for the Virginia Department of Transportation, ``could we educate the people that Hampton Roads was the destination? What we are up against is that we have seven cities in Hampton Roads, plus Poquoson and Williamsburg.''
Adding to the confusion is the fact that one of the Hampton Roads cities is Hampton.
And apparently there is no precedent for interstate signs directing motorists to a region - like Hampton Roads. The signs usually lead to cities or to tourist destinations like Disney World. In Minnesota, for example, no signs lead to the Twin Cities or to Minneapolis-St. Paul. They lead to either Minneapolis or St. Paul.
At a minimum, it might be helpful if signs were erected at the entrance and exit to Hampton Roads on I-64: possibly Welcome to Hampton Roads and Hampton Roads Bids You Adieu. The minimum letter height on interstate directional signs is 13 inches, so there is no way all the cities could be listed on one sign. A Burma Shave-type series of signs might entertain motorists, but the cities' names don't rhyme.
Dwight Farmer, director of transportation for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, said he'd support a Hampton Roads sign ``if it remained user-friendly and did not create confusion.''
We must keep plugging away to plant the Hampton Roads name in more people's minds. by CNB