THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100422
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The City Council on Tuesday approved a new alignment for Cedar Road, which leads into the heart of one of the few sections of Chesapeake relatively untouched by development.
In Virginia's fastest growing city, approving a new road alignment is nothing out of the ordinary. But there is concern about the road in Deep Creek, a small town that is beginning to look more and more like its newly developed brethren.
Council members approved the measure 8-0 after first voting down an alternative proposal to create an 80-foot right-of-way along the existing Cedar Road.
Running a straight line through virgin farmland from Dominion Boulevard to Route 17 in Deep Creek, the proposed section of new road is expected to open up more land for development, ease local traffic congestion, and improve sharp curves and deep ditches along the existing Cedar Road.
The road will be built as a two-lane road with capacity for four lanes. The exact date of construction was not set, but it must be before the money from the city's last set of road bonds runs out, within the next four years.
City officials had originally wanted a 115-foot right-of-way along the existing Cedar Road. But ``the people who lived along the road just totally reacted against it,'' said John A. O'Connor, Chesapeake's director of public works. ``The point they made was that the city had a master road plan and on it, it shows a new alignment for Cedar Road.''
The city studied its master plan and agreed.
In addition to the new road, there was also sufficient funding available to improve the curves and ditches along the old Cedar Road, establishing a 70-foot right-of-way along the narrow, 2-lane road. The old road will remain when the new one is built.
O'Connor said 80 percent of the 12,000 vehicles that travel Cedar Road daily are expected to switch to the new road.
Outside of the Western Branch area of the city, Deep Creek - which sits next to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal - is seen by many city officials as a focus for development.
At least three large housing developments are planned along the existing Cedar Road. And traffic congestion along U.S. Route 17 and Cedar Road, both two-lane roads, has long clogged local streets, according to residents.
The new alignment will require that eight homes, one church and three businesses be relocated. The total cost is estimated at $12.7 million.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL by CNB