THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090385
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 66 lines
The City Council here revived a regional light rail proposal Tuesday by agreeing to Virginia Beach's demands to enlarge the scope of the project.
The ball is now in Virginia Beach's court. For the project to go forward, the Beach council must endorse its further study.
Virginia Beach Councilman William D. Sessoms said Tuesday night that he believed there was a good chance the Beach council would now approve advancing the project to its next phase of study.
``We've asked Norfolk and TRT to do certain things, and certainly if they have complied with our requests, I expect us to move forward,'' Sessoms said.
The Beach councilman discounted the possibility that the disputes earlier this year between the cities over the Lake Gaston water pipeline would prompt the Beach council to vote against the project. This summer, some council members said they were were reluctant to support the project after Norfolk released a water study that showed it had millions of gallons more surplus water than either city had believed.
``Our vote will be based solely on the project itself,'' Sessoms said Tuesday night. ``It won't have one thing to do with Lake Gaston.''
The planned light rail line would run initially 18 miles from the Oceanfront to downtown Norfolk.
Under the new terms requested by Virginia Beach and approved Tuesday by Norfolk, rights of way for links to the Norfolk Naval Base and the Norfolk International Airport would be acquired at the same time this first phase is built.
As part of the new plan, the expected, federally funded major investment study would be expanded to include choosing routes to these places, as well as assessing ridership projections and cost estimates.
In addition, the study would consider the feasibility, cost and desirability of adding more elevated crossings along the route of the rail line.
Jayne Whitney, director of program management at Tidewater Regional Transit, said the new conditions would not present a problem. Most of the land on possible routes to both the naval base and airport are publicly owned, she said, so this should not significantly increase the cost of the project.
She said she expected the Tidewater Transportation District Commission to notify Virginia Beach in coming weeks of the agency's approval of the new conditions.
If the Beach council approves the request for further study, the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization will then vote on the project. With the approval of this regional planning body, the project would be submitted for another federally funded study, Whitney said.
This would take about 18 months and cost $3 million to $4 million. The study would also include investigations of possible links to Portsmouth and Chesapeake, Whitney said.
Once this study is completed, the project, expected to cost about $375 million, would then be eligible for federal funding.
Despite the struggles over the councils' endorsements, neither city would actually be putting any money on the line, or risking spending money, with their votes. Before that occurs, the project would have to go back before the councils at a future date, with a specific funding plan. ILLUSTRATION: PLANNED STATIONS
GRAPHIC
ROBERT D. VOROS
The Virginian-Pilot
SOURCE: Tidewater Transportation District Commission study
KEYWORDS: TRANSPORTATION LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM TRT by CNB