THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 52 lines
The level of distrust between Virginia Beach and Norfolk is so great these days that postponements count as progress.
The best that light-rail proponents could hope for Tuesday when the Virginia Beach City Council voted on light rail was that council would not kill it outright.
And it didn't. Instead, council voted 9-0 to delay indefinitely a decision whether to support an 18-month study of the costs and benefits of a light-rail line linking the two cities. Earlier, Norfolk approved such a study, to cost $3 million to $4 million.
A Virginia Beach vote against the study presumably would have doomed light rail in South Hampton Roads, since the study is required to qualify the light-rail system for federal funds. The cost of the leg from the Oceanfront to downtown Norfolk alone is set at $376 million.
In the wake of the Virginia Beach postponement, progress remains possible.
What Virginia Beach City Council wants is not just a light-rail line between downtown Norfolk and the Oceanfront, serving day-tripping, light-spending beach lovers. Council wants a true commuter line, linking the Norfolk Naval Base and the Oceanfront and also Norfolk International Airport.
Virginia Beach's desire for a more regional light-rail system makes sense, and Jayne Whitney, who handles major-projects funding and programming for TRT, said the Beach's demands can be met.
Only a true commuter line, such as Virginia Beach envisions, will take motorists off the road during rush hours. Ideally commuters and day-trippers will be served. Systems in other areas serve both. Thus the systems are used all day long and all week - not just during rush hours.
Virginia Beach council members need to keep two things in mind. First, major cities have or are getting light rail. Council members certainly think of their city as a major East Coast metropolis. Second, in the absence of light rail the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway must be expanded. Since there's no room for more lanes on the ground, a second layer of Expressway would have to be constructed. The astronomical cost for that would far exceed the price tag for a rail system.
Hampton Roads is at a crossroads. Does it want to be a first-tier metropolis with big-league sports, adequate transportation regionwide and other amenities expected in a area of this size? Does it want to be an economic power that can compete with the likes of Charlotte? Or does it want to remain a collection of squabbling cities, each doing the best it can under trying circumstances?
The stakes are high. This region should have begun acting like a region long ago. If it had, Virginia Beach would have water by now, residents would have better-paying jobs to choose from, and planning for a regional light-railway system would already be on track.
KEYWORDS: LIGHT RAIL TIDEWATER REGIONAL TRANSIT by CNB