THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
After months of bitter arguments between neighborhoods, the city is set to decide today how to handle traffic that runs through the Waterview neighborhood.
Some Waterview residents are pushing the city to demolish a causeway that links their neighborhood to the Westhaven neighborhood.
But folks who use the route say the city has better options - ones that would serve Waterview and its surrounding neighborhoods. They don't mind the city slowing traffic or even deterring some drivers from going through the neighborhood, but they don't want the causeway demolished either.
For the past few months, the city has barricaded several main roads at High Street going into the Waterview to test whether barriers would limit traffic in the neighborhood. It seems to have worked, but some residents have said it isn't enough.
Daryl Beasley, the president of the Waterview Civic League, asked the council earlier this month to either demolish the causeway or leave the barricades up through the spring and continue counting the traffic. As the weather warms and drivers learn the routes through the neighborhood, he said, traffic is likely to increase.
Other area residents don't want the causeway closed.
Gary Gup, who lives on a busy corner near the causeway, said that the barricades are a much better alternative to closing the road. He said the Waterview-Westhaven traffic going past his corner has decreased considerably, yet he still has easy access to his mother's house across the causeway.
Carrie J. Byrum, a Waterview resident, opposes both the barricades and demolishing the causeway. She said the police should enforce the speed limits and that the city could turn heavily traveled roads into one-way streets.
``I don't feel that the taxpayers should be denied the rights to use the streets,'' Byrum said. ``I'm concerned about the situation out here because it's pitting several neighborhoods against Waterview.
``In Waterview there are 371 homes, and normally it's about 15 people in the civic league who speak for all of the residents. Not all of the residents want this. I've had calls from people who don't want the causeway closed. It's an artery for us and for the rest of the city.''
She said she was also concerned that closing the causeway would cut access to the small grocery store that Anne Brown has owned on the causeway for decades.
``She's not on welfare,'' Byrum said. ``She makes enough in that little store to keep her there. Be it ever so humble, she should not be denied the right to her little store and livelihood.''
Janet Mizelle, who lives on Oregon Avenue and uses the causeway, also doesn't want to see it closed.
``They've said speeders are the problem. I don't want speeders on my streets either,'' Mizelle said. ``If they don't want to use police to enforce the speed limits, they should put in speed bumps at certain intervals.''
Today at 5 p.m., the city staff will review the options with the City Council, and City Manager Ronald W. Massie is expected to make recommendations for a permanent solution to the traffic problems.
While Gup said he likes the barricades, he said he's been even more impressed by the way the city handled such a controversial and emotional problem.
``This was a good compromise, it wasn't just a quick reaction,'' Gup said. ``. . . They've really looked at the options.''
KEYWORDS: TRAFFIC by CNB