DATE: Saturday, May 31, 1997                TAG: 9705310002
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

COLORFUL CORRIDOR PLANS TO BEAUTIFY A FIVE-MILE STRETCH OF HIGHWAY ARE WORTH A LOOK.

The Shore Drive corridor between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and Fort Story is easily Virginia Beach's most eclectic thoroughfare.

From the breathtaking view at the crest of the Lesner Bridge to the marinas, millionaires' mansions, beach cottages and funky little seafood restaurants that dot the landscape, Shore Drive has an identity completely separate from the resort area - or any other part of the resort city.

Yet Shore Drive could use a face lift. At least that's the opinion of a Washington, D.C., consultant who has recommended that the city beautify the five-mile stretch. Since Shore Drive is the first glimpse of Virginia Beach that many out-of-town tourists get, it would be nice if the initial impression were a good one.

City Council hired the Urban Land Institute to study the Shore Drive stretch last year after a low-income retirement community, under construction, burned to the ground in a suspicious fire. Belatedly, council realized it had erred by giving the go-ahead to the unsightly structure. When it was destroyed by fire, city officials had a second chance to control the future of Shore Drive.

It's about time. Nearly every segment of Virginia Beach is littered with sorry reminders that this is a city built by some developers with no sense of beauty or proportion, whose only motive was wealth.

The Urban Land Institute has a track record in Virginia Beach and ought to be listened to. This is the same group that recommended many of the changes that transformed Atlantic Avenue from a seedy street lined with T-shirt shops into a graceful, wide promenade lined with T-shirt shops.

Any plans to give Shore Drive a make-over ought to have two seemingly irreconcilable goals: to preserve the unique character of the corridor and to find a solution to Shore Drive's increasing traffic congestion.

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