THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 48 lines
This could prove to be a historic day for Hampton Roads. Virginia Beach and Norfolk city councils are scheduled to decide today whether to support a detailed study of the costs and benefits of a light-rail line linking them.
If either city nixes the study and Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway traffic slows some day to 10 miles per hour, commuters will rue the day light rail was derailed.
Some Virginia Beach council members object to building the first leg only from the Oceanfront to downtown Norfolk. That leg, they say, would benefit Norfolk more than their city. They want the railway to continue to the Norfolk naval station.
It should. Nearly twice as many Virginia Beach workers commute to the naval station as to downtown Norfolk. But just the Virginia Beach-downtown Norfolk leg is projected to cost $376 million.
Perhaps, at this point, Virginia Beach could settle for a commitment that the next leg would go to the naval station.
Then the question becomes, What route to the naval station is best? The sensible one, if financially feasible, would go to downtown Norfolk, on past the Eastern Virginia Medical School and medical complex, and up Hampton Boulevard by Old Dominion University. Such a route would pass within walking distance of 14 of the region's 20 major employment centers. It would be used all day long. A route that went up Tidewater Drive would be used twice a day, by commuters to and from the base. Surely more light-rail traffic than that is needed to make light rail worthwhile.
Although light rail will be expensive to build, the alternative - adding lanes to the expressway - would cost nearly three times as much.
An advantage of light rail is that more railway cars can easily be added as use picks up. More expressway lanes cannot easily be added when the expressway fills up.
According to a $1 million federal study, light rail between Virginia Beach and Norfolk would boost annual payrolls by $88 million, increase retail sales by $56 million and improve nearby property values by more than $246 million.
Paying for light rail almost certainly will require a tax increase, possibly a 2- to 5-cent regional motor-fuel surcharge or a sales-tax increase of one-fourth to one-half cent per dollar.
The problem is not today's traffic, which is bearable, though some days barely. Council members have to think about tomorrow. Traffic will get worse. It always does. Some day, the region's economic development could be stifled by inadequate transportation. by CNB