THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608150331
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 76 lines
Construction crews are widening parts of Interstate 64 on the Peninsula, but the improvements will be obsolete before the work is done.
That is why transportation planners are stepping back to evaluate whether endlessly building lane additions is the smartest way to handle swelling traffic counts.
For the next 18 months, a consultant will look at light rail, carpool or High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, express bus lanes, restricted truck lanes, ramp metering and even on-board computers in cars to alleviate congestion on the busy corridor linking South Hampton Roads to Richmond. Simple, old-fashioned lane additions also will be considered.
``We need to determine which combination of modes best serves the regional needs,'' said Charles F. Cayton, project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc.
The $2.2 million study was launched Wednesday evening with an open house to solicit suggestions from highway users and local residents.
Southside motorists traveling to the Peninsula can expect to see a 50 percent increase in traffic on the interstate over the next 20 years, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. Around Hampton, that means the number of cars traveling the road each day will jump from 100,000 now to 150,000 in 2015.
The interstate is being widened from four to six lanes in some sections. An eight-lane interstate is included in VDOT's six-year plan, and some funding has been allocated for the $50 million project.
``As we move toward starting on eight lanes, we need to look at how we would use those additional lanes,'' said VDOT spokesman William J. Cannell. ``Or do we need to build them at all?
``We want to look at all different options.''
A similar evaluation was done in South Hampton Roads for Interstate 264 from Virginia Beach to Norfolk. That study, finished last spring, recommended a light rail system. Southside cities and Tidewater Regional Transit are negotiating the details.
The Interstate 64 study will be more complicated, because the 75-mile corridor has more varied surroundings than the 18-mile stretch of 264 in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
The study area includes Richmond, New Kent, Williamsburg, Hampton, Newport News and everything in between.
``There's a lot of different environments from rural to urban,'' Cayton said.
``What's a good solution for Newport News and Hampton may not be a good solution for Richmond, and neither may be good for New Kent.
``It could be that we end up with a highway component and a rail component - two different travel corridors.''
CSX operates a rail line that runs roughly parallel to Interstate 64 to the south from Richmond to Newport News.
Rail is becoming a popular option to move Virginians from one place to another.
In South Hampton Roads, a study group is examining building another bridge-tunnel in Hampton Roads through which a rail line might run.
Newport News is studying the CSX corridor between Williamsburg and Newport News. And a state commission is eyeing a high-speed rail system between Richmond and Washington, D.C.
``One of the issues we will consider is all the other studies going on in the region,'' Cayton said. ``It's important we do not do our work in a vacuum.''
The original timetable on the study had the recommendations coming out in stages, with the first due in October for highway improvements only in Hampton and Newport News.
However, that's been revised, and recommendations for the entire project will be presented in winter 1998. ILLUSTRATION: Map
Graphic
The Virginian-Pilot
SOME OF THE ALTERNATIVES FOR EASING CONGESTION ON I-64
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: ROAD CONTRUCTION ROUTE INTERSTATE 64 by CNB