THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140382
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The City Council agreed Tuesday on a compromise plan to improve the safety of Shore Drive by cutting down 69 trees instead of the original target of 345.
The 8-2 vote, opposed by Councilman Robert K. Dean and Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, came after several citizens pleaded to keep all the trees intact and rely on stricter enforcement of drunken driving and speeding laws.
Council members were clearly concerned for the park's aesthetics and they seemed pained about making a choice on a topic that generated an unusually strong letter-writing campaign by residents.
City Manager James Spore offered the compromise after city engineers devised a different treatment for the road's shoulder.
The original plan called for paving the shoulder of the westbound lane for 10 feet from the road's edge and then paving the eastbound by six feet. Each shoulder would have rumble strips and reflectors embedded in the asphalt.
The shoulder is presently unpaved and in some areas dips off abruptly and into soft sand.
The compromise involved developing a more narrow strip of pavement along the shoulder, rumble strips, and crushed gravel at the shoulder's edge, a move that allowed the city to save 276 trees.
Councilman W.W. Harrison called for city oversight on each tree selected for removal to be certain it was necessary for the project.
In addition, Harrison called for any trees that are cut down to be replaced with an equal number of trees planted elsewhere in the 2,500-acre park as a gesture to tree lovers.
Last year, the city hired a consultant to study the busy road that runs along the northern edge of First Landing State Park to find ways to make it safer.
Between 1991-94, the tree-lined road, which many consider to be among the region's most beautiful, was the scene of 83 accidents that killed 10 people. Of of the total, 38 percent involved alcohol, 19 percent involved speeding, 57 percent were at night and 64 percent involved collisions with trees.
Nearly all letter writers complained the city was cutting down trees to make the road safer for drunk drivers and other people who drive dangerously..
But the report, which was backed by the city's traffic engineers, found that too many trees were too close to the road - in some cases less than 10 feet - and that created an unforgiving driving environment. Engineers hoped to make the road less dangerous for people whose poor driving habits or momentary lapses in judgment put them at immediate peril of hitting a tree at highway speeds.
Tree removal is only part of the $1 million project to make the stretch of road safer. The city also plans use reflective paint, guardrails along some stretches, more oversized traffic signs, and to even parts of the road that dip unexpectedly. by CNB