THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160492
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The highway formerly known as the Southeastern Expressway was given new life Thursday by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
``It's alive again, sort of,'' said Bill Cannell of the Virginia Department of Transportation, ``though it really never was dead. Though it may die yet.''
The board approved Virginia Beach's preferred route for the 20-mile road from the Beach to Chesapeake, connecting Route 44 with Interstate 64. That decision, which had been deferred for more than a year, means the $343 million highway can proceed to the next step in its development.
The board did not authorize any funding, so the highway's future is far from assured. ``We're not saying we're going to build this project come hell or high water,'' Cannell said. ``We're saying we're going to keep the option alive.''
The project has been in limbo since the Chesapeake City Council came out against it in November, 1994. The council opposed one of the five possible routes for the road, which would have cut through the city's Greenbrier section, and feared that if the expressway were funded, the expansion of Route 168 would not be.
The Virginia Beach City Council has long been divided about the project, which some feared would open up the city's rural half for development. But late last year, the council unanimously affirmed its support for the highway, on the condition that it be renamed and scaled back.
The original plan was for a major expressway like Route 44. But the council, led by Major Meyera E. Oberndorf, decided it preferred a road modeled after the Colonial Parkway, which connects Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown. The council renamed the road the ``Southeastern Parkway and Greenbelt.''
The transportation board said Thursday that the Beach could be involved in the design process for the new road.
The transportation board selected the southernmost route considered, which would run south of Stumpy Lake between Indian River Road and Butts Station Road. It would begin at Route 44 east of Oceana Boulevard in Virginia Beach and end at I-64 and I-464 in Chesapeake.
About 177 families would lose their homes if that route is built. Most of them are in the Atlantic Park section of Virginia Beach. The other four alternatives would have required the condemnation of thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses.
Now that the route has been selected, the state will finish its environmental analysis and pursue a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, a process that could take about a year. Assuming the project is funded, it would take about four years to design the roadway and purchase the necessary rights of way and another three to four years for construction, Beach Assistant City Manager Robert Matthias said.
The transportation board also decided to replace the bridge connecting Chincoteague to the Eastern Shore, with a low-level structure as similar to the existing bridge as possible. A public hearing to review the design will be held in the spring of 1997, with construction to begin in mid-1998. MEMO: Staff writer Mac Daniel contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Map
by CNB