
DATE: Thursday, May 22, 1997                TAG: 9705220472
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   84 lines

NEW SPAN NEEDED NOW, CITIZENS SAY THEY CALL FOR NEW ROUTE TO PENINSULA A THIRD HARBOR CROSSING COULD COST BILLIONS.

Motorists not only want another bridge and tunnel linking South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula, they want it now.

That was the sentiment of many citizens who attended a public hearing Wednesday on the Virginia Department of Transportation's proposal to build a third crossing.

``Do we need another tunnel? Do we need to eat?'' said George Haycox, a retired photographer.

``I know something needs to be done, fast,'' said Patrick Murray, a truck driver from Norfolk.

Some even said transportation planners may be too late.

``I don't think people in the area think far enough ahead,'' said Boe James, a Navy retiree in Norfolk who now works for Metromarine Transport. ``We should have been building this now.''

But not everyone was as enthusiastic.

``I'm not sure the answer is here yet,'' Terri Harrison of Norfolk said as she studied the 11 alternatives for another bridge and tunnel recommended by a consultant. ``They need to come up with something else, though I'm not sure what that something else is. This is a lot of money.''

People came and went throughout the three-hour hearing, with upward of 50 people at any one time listening and offering their opinions.

A consultant has recommended 11 options - variations on four basic scenarios - for building another bridge-tunnel, ranging from $1.5 billion to $3.3 billion.

The 12th option is to do nothing.

The others range from expanding the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel or the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel to building a new crossing just east of the Monitor-Merrimac that curves east to connect with Craney Island in Portsmouth and Norfolk International Terminals.

Many at Wednesday's public hearing agreed that congestion is a problem and that they were willing to pay the price of a new crossing.

With higher gas taxes? Tolls? A dedicated sales tax?

``Whatever it takes,'' said Murray. ``My momma always told me you can't have things for free. We've got to pay for it some way.''

``The Hampton Roads area has to be willing to pay because there is no other option,'' said Robin Putman, a Norfolk teacher.

Some, however, were nervous about the cost of the project and suggested building a new crossing in phases. Several citizens suggested building a connection between Norfolk International Terminals and Portsmouth's Craney Island right away and later adding the second leg north to the Peninsula.

A few citizens at the hearing had specific reasons for coming out to support their preferred alternatives.

A group of Lochhaven residents in Norfolk supports the options that connect Norfolk International Terminals to Craney Island and the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. Linking the two ports would reduce the volume of truck traffic on Hampton Boulevard, which is adjacent to their neighborhood.

That connection also would accommodate growth at the ports.

``Unless we do what is necessary to keep our port competitive, we're going to rot on the vine,'' said Phil Davey, a maritime lawyer.

Earlier in the day, a report was released that showed most of the homes and businesses that would be lost to a new bridge and tunnel would be on the Peninsula.

Depending on which option was selected, between 125 and 1,500 homes would be lost as well as 21 to 138 businesses. Consultant Philip A. Shucet, project manager for Michael Baker Jr. Inc., said about 80 percent of those displaced homes and businesses would be on the Peninsula. ``Especially in Newport News,'' he said, ``there's a potential for dramatic impacts.''

The alternatives with the greatest displacement are the ones that bring traffic down the CSX rail corridor in Newport News and across the Hampton Roads harbor just east of the Monitor-Merrimac bridge-tunnel.

The consultants also did an inventory of environmental impacts. Again depending on the option, between 42 and 232 acres of wetlands would be disturbed, and between five and nine threatened and endangered species would be impacted, including dolphins, porpoises and sea turtles. ILLUSTRATION: INPUT

Written comments on the Hampton Roads Crossing Study will be

accepted until May 30. Comments should be mailed to Virginia

Department of Transportation, c/o Michael Baker Jr. Inc./HRCS, 770

Lynnhaven Pkwy., Suite 240, Virginia Beach, Va. 23452.

For information, call the Hampton Roads Crossing Study Hotline at

1-800-276-HRCS.

A second public hearing is scheduled for today from 4 to 7 p.m.

at Warwick High School, 51 Copeland Lane, Newport News.