THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290400
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
Traffic volume in the region's tunnels and bridge-tunnels increased dramatically in October, so much so that local transportation experts are baffled about how to cope.
If October's trend persists, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel could resemble the ever-clogged Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in just five years.
Congestion will likely continue, if not grow worse, at the Downtown Tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth, where the 22 percent increase in traffic over last October is being called ``phenomenal.''
And despite the almost routine delays and congestion, the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel continues to see a staggering increase in traffic, leaving the span well over capacity.
Worst of all, these huge increases in traffic volume showed up in a month when tourists are not flooding the region.
The October-to-October comparison has local experts reeling.
If it indicates a trend, it could mean that no amount of highway funds will enable road construction to keep pace with the congestion, experts said.
``We're in a situation where we couldn't build roads fast enough,'' said Dwight L. Farmer, who studies transportation for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
If the number of vehicles traveling local roads continues to grow at this level, Farmer said, Hampton Roads and the Peninsula could snarl like Northern Virginia by the end of the century.
It's too early to tell, but planners say local traffic appears to be the cause of the congestion.
The region's population hasn't increased much in the last five years, military downsizing has leveled, and increasing car prices have dropped car sales 5 percent nationwide in the past year.
``I think people are traveling more, even as congestion gets worse,'' Farmer said. ``You would think that as congestion got worse, people would want to go out less.
``This is breaking all the rules,'' he added. ``It's perplexing.''
``Our seat-of-the-pants estimate was that everyone was increasing their own travel by about 1 percent per year,'' Farmer said.
But when traffic volume increases as much as it did last month, ``that means it's not new people or new businesses, per se, that are part of the problem. It's ourselves.''
Traffic at the Downtown Tunnel increased 22 percent from last October. Traffic there comes to a halt almost daily because the tunnel is handling more vehicles than it was designed to carry.
``That kind of annual growth rate,'' Farmer said, ``is phenomenal.''
In October 1994, a heavy day at the Downtown Tunnel would have seen 80,000 vehicles. Last month, at least four days exceeded 100,000 vehicles. Fifteen days exceeded 90,000, and there were only seven days where traffic fell below 80,000.
``With this kind of volume, and with this kind of growth rate, your construction program can't possibly keep pace,'' Farmer said. ``Even if you had the money, you couldn't build fast enough.
``Our desire for mobility is our worst enemy,'' he added. ``I don't know how you provide an answer to this.''
The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, the region's newest crossing, saw a 16 1/2 percent increase over last October. If that growth continues, planners say, by the year 2000, the bridge-tunnel will be handling the same amount of traffic as the clogged Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel does now.
And the figures indicate that the increase in traffic volume at the Monitor-Merrimac was not a result of traffic avoiding the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. Traffic on that span increased 11.2 percent over last October, putting it well over capacity.
October's vehicle count at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was about 84,000 vehicles per day, a figure exceeding peak summertime volume from three and four years ago. The bridge-tunnel was designed to handle about 70,000 vehicles per day.
``The summer conditions of 1993 and 1994 are now occurring in October,'' Farmer said.
The recently compiled numbers will become part of an in-depth study of the region's transportation problems in January.
Several solutions are being examined. A three-year, $6 million ``Hampton Roads Crossing Study'' is currently looking at traffic patterns in the region to determine if a third crossing of the Hampton Roads waterway is needed.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board is also considering re-numbering local interstates to funnel traffic away from the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and into the less crowded Monitor-Merrimac. Their meeting to approve the change is scheduled for Dec. 21.
``What you're seeing is that the peak period is starting to stretch through the day, longer and longer,'' said Philip A. Shucet, who is heading the crossing study. ``That doesn't surprise me based on what has happened in other metropolitan areas as their road systems become more taxed.''
The Hampton Roads Crossing Study found that the demand to cross between the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads will jump to between 260,000 and 300,000 trips per day into the year 2000 and beyond, Shucet said.
A household survey two years ago also found that the region goes on a large number of discretionary trips, beginning in the morning and staying constant during the day. The region also does a lot of errands to and from work, Shucet said.
``When I hear numbers like you're telling me, that certainly re-enforces the need for a transportation fix in the area,'' he said.
Jim Cleveland, acting district administrator for the state transportation department's Suffolk district, said much of the problem could be solved if people began changing their driving habits and using the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.
``The only bright spot you've got, I guess, is 664,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ROBERT D. VOROS/The Virginian-Pilot
VEHICLES PER DAY
SOURCE: Virginia Department of Transportation
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: TRAFFIC HAMPTON ROADS TUNNELS
BRIDGE-TUNNELS by CNB