THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
After reading about the plans developed so far for a solution to the continuing traffic problem in our area, I feel that the $6 million fee for the consulting group has been wasted. After all we have learned about traffic patterns, pollution and the greenhouse effect, the group has no better suggestion than building yet another span for car traffic.
One of their ``solutions'' would be to build a span right next to the Monitor Merrimac bridge-tunnel, which is obviously absurd given that this crossing is already underutilized.
The other solutions are not much better - they only will generate more traffic and move the bottlenecks (and traffic jams) to different locations. A true solution to the traffic problem would be to utilize public transportation, like every major urban area in the civilized world.
If a bridge has to be built, make it a light-rail one. I commute to the Peninsula every week; I would love to spend that time reading a book while riding a train instead of inching my way through the tunnel.
But even for much less money there are obvious solutions that seem to have been ignored. Prominent among them would be to have a continuous HOV lane along the whole stretch of I-64, with a requirement of at least two occupants per vehicle. By discouraging drivers from using their own car, traffic could be reduced to acceptable levels.
I hope that common sense will prevail once the final decision is made. After all, the charge included a specific admonition to find ways to reduce car traffic, not increase it even more.
SEBASTIAN E. KUHN
Norfolk, Sept. 20, 1995 by CNB