THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130008
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 74 lines
Norfolk, the Navy and the Virginia Port Authority have attained an unprecedented and highly promising level of cooperation.
For starters, the Virginia Port Authority and the Navy plan a swap that should save Virginians both state and federal taxes, beginning early next year.
Staff writer Christopher Dinsmore reported that the port will get to use valuable Navy land by the International Terminal Boulevard entrance to Norfolk International Terminals. For years, port officials have stared longingly through a fence at the 55 acres, with 1 million square feet of storage space.
In payment for the land, the port will load and unload Navy ships for free.
In other words, Virginia gets an expanded port with no huge outlay. The Navy, by having cargo ships loaded at the Norfolk terminal, gains pier space at the base and frees personnel for other duties.
In addition, Norfolk Southern, which serves the terminal, could use Navy land, allowing it to operate longer freight trains, to the benefit of the terminal and the Navy.
Over time, the ports/Navy swap could prove to be a billion-dollar deal.
The key players in putting together the win-win barter were Virginia Transportation Secretary Robert Martinez, with the enthusiastic support of Gov. George F. Allen; Atlantic Fleet Commander Adm. William J. ``Bud'' Flanagan Jr.; Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim; Norfolk Southern CEO David Goode; and Robert Bray, executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, the state agency that oversees state ports in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News.
Bray, who has work the ports since 1967, is watching a dream come true, as the Navy, the city, the ports and others essentially ask what they can do to help each other and suggest deals.
``It's a grand thing,'' Bray said, ``I'll tell you.''
The progress is possible because Admiral Flanagan, who oversees an $11 billion budget, instructed his staff to become entrepreneurial. They're to look at Hampton Roads as a region, of which the Norfolk Naval Base is a part, and to make deals that help everyone, such as the swap at the terminal of land for service.
The cooperation is going to be crucial in solving area transportation problems, both rail and road. For example, many parties are involved in planning for a road to connect the cargo terminal to the adjacent Naval Base, so trucks can move between them without adding to the Hampton Boulevard congestion.
Also under discussion is a plan to establish a truck freight corridor from I-564 to the north end of Norfolk International Terminals. That route crosses Hampton Boulevard near Greenbrier Avenue, and tentative plans call for the road to go over or under the track, since it is in everybody's interest to speed traffic flow on Hampton Boulevard. Plans also call for International Terminal Boulevard to go over or under Hampton Boulevard to get to the port.
Added to the mix is a plan for a so-called ``third crossing'' connecting South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula. It might go first to the Naval Base-cargo terminal area, thence to Craney Island, where a fourth Hampton Roads terminal probably will be built, and on to the Peninsula. For maximum usefulness, it should include a rail line.
The only way to arrive at the best possible solution for all Hampton Roads transportation problems is for the ports, the Navy, Norfolk Southern and the rest of Hampton Roads to cooperate, as they now are.
The Navy's entrepreneurship is born, in part, of a change in rules that allows the Navy to keep and spend money it saves by finding better ways to do things.
``We are at a really, really exciting period,'' said Flanagan's civilian negotiator, Monica Shephard, deputy director of shore activities for the Atlantic Fleet. ``I have been pleasantly surprised and pleased to deal with folks like Bobby Bray and others in the community. There are tremendous opportunities for us.''
As Bray said, ``It's a grand thing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map
JOHN EARLE/The Virginian-Pilot
SOURCE: Virginia Port Authority by CNB