THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210367
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
It could be a deadly traffic jam.
With a major hurricane on their heels, 240,000 or more people could want to get out of Hampton Roads, but about 36,000 might not make it under the current evacuation plan. They'll be stuck in traffic, warn the authors of a study completed by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
``You wind up riding it out in your car,'' said Dwight Farmer, the commission's director of transportation who outlined the findings of the commission's hurricane evacuation impact study. ``It's not necessarily the safest place to be.''
The report, issued Wednesday, marks the latest round in a long-running disagreement between local officials and the state Department of Transportation over how best to evacuate the region when faced with a devastating hurricane.
Both sides want to get everyone out; the question is how. At the dispute's core is the question of whether Interstate 64 should have its eastbound lanes reversed so both sides of the highway could carry traffic west.
The commission recommends that the eastbound lanes of I-64 carry westbound traffic from the I-664 interchange near the Hampton Coliseum to somewhere in the Williamsburg area. The I-64 ramps would be closed between the coliseum and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
Proponents see that doubling the capacity of a key evacuation route.
Detractors argue that it will be difficult to coordinate such a plan and that it fails to answer the question of what to do with all that traffic wherever the reversed lanes end.
Presently, the department's plan is to post police officers at interstate on- ramps to control traffic, thus easing congestion. Traffic also would be closely controlled at key intersections along roads leading to the interstate.
Farmer said the commission study shows that won't work.
For one thing, he questions whether people fleeing their homes would heed a police officer's orders to wait on an on-ramp. ``That's going to be tough, even at best,'' Farmer said. ``It can be done. But I'd hate to be the guy who had to do that.''
Farmer believes the planning commission's study may push the transportation department and the Virginia State Police toward a lane-reversal plan.
The transportation department's freeway traffic operations engineer isn't ready to sign on just yet, however.
``We have some very real concerns about reversal,'' said Stephany Hanshaw. ``It's very easy to say it on paper and, in this case, it's very much easier said than done.''
Hanshaw said he has not seen the final report. But his review of drafts has left him unconvinced.
``It's really not any new information,'' he said. ``We've said all along that the (VDOT) traffic control plan is just that - a plan to maximize traffic flow.'' It never guaranteed full evacuation, he said. ``But I am looking forward to receiving the final report.''
The commission study presumes that 41 percent of residents and visitors would not be in areas vulnerable to flooding - its key concern - and would not need to evacuate; 23 percent would move to high ground, but would not leave the region; 20 percent who should evacuate probably would not; and 16 percent would head out of the region.
The report does not anticipate how many people might evacuate out of concern that winds might damage their homes.
The study found five critical bottlenecks in the region:
U.S. Route 17 in Yorktown.
Bowers Hill in Chesapeake where interstates 64, 264, 664 and Airline Boulevard and Military Highway converge.
Smithfield where U.S. Route 258 and Virginia Route 10 converge.
Williamsburg along U.S. Route 60.
I-64 west of U.S. Route 17. ILLUSTRATION: EVACUATION PLAN
The planning commission recommends that I-64's eastbound lanes be
used to carry westbound traffic from the I-664 interchange near the
Hampton Coliseum to somewhere in the Williamsburg area.
by CNB