DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040508

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHEN KIEHL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   71 lines

CHURCHLAND BLVD. WIDENING HAS SPARKED DEBATE, YET AGAIN WITH FEWER STORES PLANNED FOR AREA, THE ROAD'S TOO MUCH, OPPONENTS NOW SAY.

Don Garrison, owner of Central Shoe Repair on Churchland Boulevard, says the widening of the road where he has done business for more than 30 years should have been done long ago.

But Sharon Caddy, who works down the street at Churchland Glass and Mirror, calls the project a ``road to nowhere.'' She says that the traffic doesn't warrant the expansion, and that the widening will make the road more dangerous.

Just last week, construction began at the old Churchland High School site on High Street, where three projects, including a supermarket, are expected to open next spring.

Originally, Churchland Boulevard was supposed to be widened to accommodate the increased traffic to that commercial development, city engineer Richard Hartman said. But now that the plans include fewer retail outlets than expected, some merchants and residents are asking whether the road widening is necessary.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is spending almost $6 million to widen Churchland Boulevard to five lanes - two in each direction, plus a center turn lane - from High Street to Towne Point Road, Hartman said.

Wayne Williams, the project engineer, says the construction, which began April 1 and is now 16 percent complete, should be finished by May 1, 1998.

Portsmouth City Council requested the project in 1986. But as the council changed and the plans for the Churchland High site were scaled down, the city wondered whether the project was necessary, Hartman said.

``It was asked, `Can we decide not to do it?,' '' Hartman said. ``And the state said, `Well, if you decide not to do it, you have to pay us back all the money that we put into it.' ''

At that point, several years ago, the state already had put $800,000 into the project. The cost to the city of doing the project was 2 percent of the total cost, or $120,000.

So the city was faced with something of a Catch-22: Pay $800,000 for nothing or pay $120,000, and get a new five-lane road. ``It doesn't cost you anything to take the money, but to not use it, you have to give it back,'' Hartman said.

Still, some merchants on Churchland Boulevard are baffled by the project and say it is hurting their business.

``I don't really see a need for it,'' said Samuel A. Black Jr., owner of Dr. Mailbox. He said the construction work outside his shop has blocked the entrance to his store's parking lot several times.

``I've had days when no one has come in,'' Black said. ``One day I did $58 of business. It costs me that much just to plug everything in.''

Richard and Judy Long have lived in Portsmouth for 29 years and have owned Tri-City Photography in a shopping center off Churchland Boulevard since 1984. Judy Long said that since the Western Freeway opened in 1992, traffic has decreased in the area.

Judy Long also said it was unnecessary to tear down two houses, considered historic by some, to build the road.

Hartman said, however, that the houses were old but not historic.

``There was nothing historic there by standards of historic preservation,'' Hartman said. ``They were old, and I'm sure they were nice houses, but they weren't in the historic register.''

Some business owners said the construction may be a nuisance now, but it will pay off in the long run by bringing business to the area and making it safer.

``I think it's a good idea,'' said Tom Parker, owner of Churchland's Village Flower Shop and a car wash. ``We need the lights. But I'm not necessarily sure about the five lanes.''

He has been on Churchland Boulevard since 1964. He said he has seen a lot of changes in that time and calls the road-widening a welcome one.

About 75 percent of his business comes over the phone, Parker said, so the construction hasn't affected him too much. But, he added, ``No one wants to drive through the dirt to get their car washed.''

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