THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602100025
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: KEITH MONROE
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Ambitious plans were announced last week to bring Norfolk International Airport into the 21st centruy. That's good news. But the roads leading into the airport need to be brought into the 1950s.
Those long familiar with the airport may not realize how peculiar its situation really is. Perhaps a little thought experiment will help.
You are rushing to catch a plane in one of the hub cities of the New South with which Hampton Roads would someday like to compete - Atlanta, say, or Charlotte or even Raleigh-Durham. Close your eyes. What do you see?
That's right. Superhighway interchanges that lead to the airport, sweeping ribbons of concrete that slide you into a bustling airport. Departures this way. Arrivals that way. Mass transit. Bus lanes. Cloverleaves, underpasses, overpasses, a complex of arteries leading here, there and everywhere.
Now, imagine you are catching a plane out of Hampton Roads. In your mind's eye, what scenes do you see? That's right, you are on a two-lane street in somebody's neighborhood. You are stopped at a light trying to decide whether to go straight past the strip mall or turn right at the meat market.
Perhaps you see yourself pulled over to the side of the road in front of an elementary school. A policeman writes a ticket as your plane roars overhead. Welcome to Hampton Roads.
It's not that you can't get to major thoroughfares from the airport. In close proximity are Route 44 and I-64. Though in need of upgrading, Northampton Boulevard and Military Highway pass nearby. But nearby isn't good enough. The last mile, separating highway and aerodrome, is a mess. The front door of the airport is reached by narrow roads, residential streets, stop-and-go thoroughfares and apparent footpaths. There is no adequate backdoor from the Virginia Beach side of the world, though one is clearly needed.
The scenic causeway leading to the airport gives a better view of lily pads than Monet had from his porch, but in foul weather it's been known to flood. Visitors can be forgiven for wondering if they've taken a wrong turn at Milano as they start looking for gondoliers.
Signage surrounding the airport is terrible. On approaches that include Norview Avenue and Military Highway if you miss one tiny square sign with a silhouette of an airplane you can easily find yourself in someone's driveway rather than winging through the clouds.
Pity the poor out-of-towner trying to find his way. With luck a sign may direct him to downtown Norfolk, the Oceanfront or the Bay Bridge, but if he's aiming for Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk or Williamsburg, forget it. Most ludicrous of all are minuscule signs saying: Naval Base. In a region that boasts more naval installations than any other place on Earth, that's hardly helpful.
Longtime residents of Hampton Roads have learned to navigate around the obstacles Norfolk and Virginia Beach have put in the way of easy airport access. I once rode from downtown Norfolk to the airport with the wily Guy Friddell. He followed a brilliant, swift but incomprehensible back route. I never once found myself on a road I recognized, and the course was steered by landmarks like a hot-dog stand and an Army-surplus store. If I'd only taken notes I'd never have to mess with I-64 again.
Each Beach resident seems to have his own private shortcut or secret passageway. I've tried some that have been recommended and they've landed me on the wrong side of airport fences, in strange cargo areas and dead-ended in swamps at the end of runways.
Even if we locals can figure out ways to outwit the narrow roads, back streets, stoplights, poor signs, school zones, speed traps, scenic drives and canals that impede speedy access to the airport, is it wise or hospitable to force visitors to run such a gantlet?
Probably not. Upgrading the airport is a fine idea. An expanded terminal and a second 9,000-foot runway make sense. But new roadways are also needed. So how about spending a little thought and money to make ingress and egress at the Hampton Roads International Airport easier? Currently, getting there is not half the fun. MEMO: Mr. Monroe is editor of the editorial page.
by CNB