THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 52 lines
Ccommerce along East Little Creek Road ought to get a boost from Norfolk City Hall's program to improve the battered roadway and the businesses flanking it.
And improvements being made to heavily traveled Military Highway in the Military Circle/Janaf Shopping Center/ Poplar Hall area likewise promise to be a boon - to commuters, businesses and residents.
The East Little Creek Road corridor has gotten shabbier and shoddier over the years. Business activity there has slipped. So has municipal tax revenue from that activity.
Thus, Norfolk City Council was disposed to respond constructively to a grass-roots initiative to reverse the corridor's declining fortunes and appearance. The development-minded council agreed with the Little Creek East Business Association to a joint public and private investment in the corridor. The public/private partnership expects existing businesses to profit from improvements that could draw more customers. Contemplated enhancements probably will attract additional entrepreneurs and investors to the East Little Creek Road area.
In mid-June, City Council voted a matching-grant program which obligates the city to bear a portion of the costs incurred by merchants and commercial-property owners who make permanent improvements increasing the appeal of their buildings, grounds and parking areas.
Norfolk also will repair and spruce up East Little Creek Road itself while merchants and property owners police litter and weeds and care for shrubbery and trees.
Military Highway will be widened between Lowery Road and just beyond Poplar Hall Drive to the south. The three-year project will inevitably entail inconvenience for everyone affected directly by it, but the end result, which will include wider and better intersections at Lowery, Virginia Beach Boulevard and Poplar Hall Drive, surely will be worth the bother.
Tens of thousands of cars daily travel Military Highway, which was created in the 1940s to expedite transportation of cargo, weaponry, troops and defense workers. Hundreds of businesses are in the vicinity of the section of Military Highway undergoing improvement. Norfolk City Hall recognizes that traffic snarls, frequent along the busy route, do businesses no good.
That's what governments should do, of course. Virginia Beach Boulevard has been vastly improved over the years, to the benefit of the resort city's economy and tax base. Back in the early 1960s, the boulevard was the most deadly stretch of road in the state. Upgrading followed, but the most recent redesigned and upgraded roadway has made the biggest difference.
Businesses and professional firms in Norfolk number about 9,500. The traffic-corridor projects might push that figure higher. They are certain to make for legions of happier campers. by CNB