THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601030146
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
It seems that the citizens opposed to making Centerville Turnpike a safer road don't even live in the area or use the road as a means of daily travel.
During the past 16 months, there have been two fatalities and more than 20 other accidents on this curve that were reported and about the same number that were not reported.
The people who oppose improvements to the road have not had to be rescue workers for all the accidents that this dangerous ``S'' curve has caused, as my neighbors and I have.
There was another wreck on the night of Dec. 20, just after the City Council meeting on this same subject.
Since when did Woodmont Road become a neighborhood? Woodmont is a dead-end road with five homes. My family has lived here for more than 20 years, just two houses from Woodmont. We always thought we were part of the same neighborhood.
As for the ``green spot'' the opposition is claiming to want to save, there is much more green to Centerville Turnpike. The road has huge old trees, not saplings in someone's backyard or on their three-hole golf course, which is only enjoyed by themselves and their friends.
Save a home or save lives: that is the question. If Centerville Turnpike is not removed and the curve removed, there will be more lives lost and injuries incurred. We local residents know that this is the truth.
We were asked by the city what our views were on the curve. We voted as a neighborhood and have 64 signed ballots in favor of Alternate 1 and only 10 opposed. So why is City Council still debating this matter? Is it because some old friends on City Council are placing a few displaced homes above the lives of people using this road?
We do not wish for anyone to lose a home. But you can replace a home and plant new trees, but nobody can replace the lives lost on this curve. Why not do something that would really solve this problem? We would like Woodmont citizens to think about safety first and their property second.
We ask the City Council to please choose Alternate 1, as our neighborhood has requested.
T.V. Tucker
Centerville Turnpike South Too many consequences
We were hopeful when the Chesapeake City Council at its last public hearing postponed any further action until the month of January. At last they seemed to be cognizant of the fact that their actions bring many consequences.
We are referring to the curve at the intersection of Land of Promise Road and Centerville Turnpike, where the city is considering taking out Woodmont Drive in order to straighten the curve. This means cutting a small farm into two parts, destroying one home with its accompanying acreage, destroying another home on Centerville Turnpike, rerouting Centerville Turnpike into what had been a pastoral neighborhood, driving down the remaining homeowners' property values and, ultimately, changing the course of the lives of Woodmont Drive residents. This seems like too many consequences to us.
Hopefully, the City Council is looking into other alternatives, such as taking the turnpike into vacant fields or, simply put, ``fixing the curve within the curve.'' Unfortunately, there are curves all over this wonderful city.
Maybe if the city had given this curve some attention before this, such as addressing a better warning system, and widening the road around it, they wouldn't be wrestling with this problem now.
Mary and Glen Martin
Velma and J.T. Martin
Dolly and Robert Atwood
Pat and Kent Davis
Woodmont Drive Careless drivers
Being a lifelong resident of Chesapeake, who has watched the population and the traffic grow, I am surprised at the lack of courtesy shown by drivers here.
Just this week, a lady passed me going much faster than the 45 mph posted speed limit, then cut me off in my lane without even using her signal to indicate a lane change.
I reacted by blowing my horn. She reacted by raising the middle finger of her right hand.
As luck would have it, she had to stop at the red light ahead. I asked her why she had made the obscene gesture. I was told that I ought to learn how to drive. I thought she should look in the mirror and ask that.
Let's face it, folks, we need to slow down and make it safer for everyone.
In 1953, when I got by first Virginia drivers license, the first thing in the driver's manual was ``Virginia's Golden Rule of the Road:''
``Drive with the same courtesy and consideration to the other users of the highway as you would have them show you.''
Enough said.
Rod Baines
Fordyce Drive by CNB