THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190377
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 68 lines
Adding HOV lanes to nine miles of Interstate 64 on the Peninsula is the best way to handle swelling traffic, a consultant has concluded.
Charles F. Cayton, project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc., will ask the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission on Wednesday to endorse the findings.
If approved, a more detailed engineering and environmental analysis will be conducted before work can begin in late 1998.
The High Occupancy Vehicle lanes would mirror those on the Southside, with designated lanes in the median reserved for two or more passengers during peak travel times.
``The region is trying to be very pro-active in developing a regional transportation system,'' said Julie Rush, transportation planner for the consulting firm.
Construction crews can't build lanes fast enough on I-64 to accommodate traffic growth.
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.
Work is under way to widen some sections of the interstate from four lanes to six lanes. The HOV plan would bring the total number of lanes to eight from I-664 to the Jefferson Avenue exit.
Rush said building HOV lanes is a ``fairly cost effective way to bring up capacity.''
The project would cost about $27 million, according to the consultants. That does not include interchange reconfiguration, which may be required at Mercury Boulevard. It would begin in late 1998 and be completed in 2001.
Jerry Sears, principal transportation engineer for VDOT in Richmond, said that unlike the Southside, the Peninsula HOV restrictions would be in effect in both directions both morning and evening. Traffic on the Peninsula, he said, is fairly evenly distributed whereas in South Hampton Roads, much of the traffic flows into downtown Norfolk and the Navy base in the morning, and back out to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake in the afternoon.
It's likely the regional planning body will support the HOV lanes as they are already included in the state Department of Transportation's six-year plan for highway construction projects.
``We're trying to promote ride-sharing and reducing the number of vehicles on the roadway,'' Sears said.
The HOV recommendations are part of a larger $2.2 million study of I-64 from Hampton Roads to Richmond.
In that 18-month study, the consultant is looking at light rail, HOV lanes, express bus lanes, restricted truck lanes, ramp metering and even on-board computers in cars to alleviate congestion on the busy corridor.
A similar evaluation was done in South Hampton Roads for I-264 from Virginia Beach to Norfolk. That study, finished last spring, recommended a light rail system. Southside cities and Tidewater Regional Transit are seeking federal funding for a more detailed analysis.
The I-64 study will be more complicated, because the 75-mile corridor has more varied surroundings than the 18-mile stretch of I-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.''