THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170326
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 34 lines
Widening Virginia Route 460 will not significantly reduce traffic at the overloaded Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, a transportation consultant said Wednesday.
Therefore, Route 460 has been eliminated as an option in the Hampton Roads Crossing Study, said Phillip A. Shucet, vice president of Michael Baker Jr. Inc., the consulting group conducting the $6 million study.
The consultant has narrowed the options for improving traffic flow at the bridge-tunnel to 11 projects. Each involves building a third bridge-tunnel connecting South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula.
Shucet briefed the members of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission Wednesday on the status of the study.
The planning district has lobbied to include Route 460 in the study, saying improving the highway could be vital to the region's economic viability. Plus its cost, $500 million, was more palatable than the $1.3 billion to $3.3 billion estimated for a third bridge-tunnel.
The consultant agreed that the project has merit, but it does not meet the stated goal of the Hampton Roads Crossing Study, which is to reduce traffic at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel by 10 percent.
Transportation officials hope to select a route next summer, based on costs, funding, environmental impacts, public sentiment and how effectively it reduces congestion.
In the meantime, widening Route 460 between Suffolk and Beckley, W.Va., has been included in another highway study, the TransAmerica Corridor study, said William J. Cannell, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman. The cost of studying the Virginia portion is $500,000. by CNB