THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608210011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 29 lines
There is an alternative to adding Interstate 64 lanes on the Peninsula (News, Aug. 15) to deal with expected increases there in local and regional vehicular-traffic flow in the next century.
This alternative would diminish traffic on and through the Peninsula, would lessen the need for another Hampton Roads/James River crossing and would bring needed economic help to a sparsely developed area of the state.
The alternative would be to upgrade Route 460 to a limited-access interstate highway between Petersburg and Suffolk, a distance of about 50 miles, which would provide direct connections at each end to I-295 and I-64 respectively.
There would then be little or no mileage or travel-time differential between the Washington-Richmond I-95 corridor and most Hampton Roads Southside and Outer Banks areas, whether one travels via the Peninsula or this alternative routing.
The resulting ``James River Beltway'' would enable motorists to select the most-direct route and would automatically sort traffic, thus reducing the anticipated heavy flows along I-64 on the Peninsula. Before we pave over the Peninsula, we ought to study thoroughly this possibility.
ROBERT S. AGMAN
Virginia Beach, Aug. 16, 1996 by CNB