DATE: Thursday, September 11, 1997          TAG: 9709110441

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA,STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   77 lines

LIGHT RAIL DESIGN PLANS GET ROLLING $5 MILLION CONTRACT AWARDED FOR INITIAL WORK

The region took its first major step toward a light rail system Wednesday when the Tidewater Transportation District Commission awarded a $5 million contract for the system's preliminary design and engineering.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas and a second firm, BRW Inc., will plan the 18-mile, $376 million rail line linking Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

``Light rail will do a lot to change and define the quality of life here through transportation,'' said Eugene C. Allen, vice president and project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Allen, who most recently worked on the Hudson-Bergen light rail project in New Jersey, moved to Hampton Roads this week from Philadelphia to oversee the project.

The company is among a consortium of firms that has an interim agreement with the city of Chesapeake to finance and build the $125 million Chesapeake Expressway, a proposed 16.2-mile road linking local interstates with North Carolina's Outer Banks.

``There's a great opportunity here for a successful light rail line,'' Allen said. ``The route's got a commuting center at each end of the line and a lot of others in between.''

The selected route for the light rail line would use a freight-rail corridor that roughly parallels the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.

Parsons Brinckerhoff, which maintains a Norfolk office, and BRW have assembled a team that includes nine other companies for the project.

They will conduct preliminary engineering and design on the first 18 miles of the light rail system, complete an environmental impact statement, select a rail route to Norfolk Naval Base and Norfolk International Airport, conduct a preliminary analysis of future extensions to Chesapeake and Portsmouth, and consider financing options.

A key element of the work will be involving business and community leaders.

``We're going to work at the grass-roots level to educate people, get them excited about the project and show them how it will benefit everybody in the region,'' Allen said.

He added that the work will be conducted in a ``vigorous and open public environment.''

Tidewater Regional Transit has received about $4 million toward the $5 million study from federal sources, including the Federal Transit Administration and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.

Regional officials requested another $5 million from Congress to complete the study and begin final engineering and design work. That funding is tied up in a budget debate - the House allocated $2 million for the project, while the Senate included nothing.

If TRT fails to obtain that money, other federal and state sources will be explored, said Jayne B. Whitney, TRT program management director.

Preliminary design work is expected to take about 2 1/2 years. Final design would taken another two years. Construction could begin in 2001.

The project is still subject to local approval, however. The Virginia Beach City Council approved the project under the conditions that no local money be spent on light rail until the Lake Gaston pipeline is in operation and until Beach voters have their say on the rail line and the taxes needed to support it.

In other business, the commission extended the contract of L.A. ``Kim'' Kimball, TRT interim executive director, for five months. His annual salary was raised from $90,000 to $108,000.

Kimball replaced James C. Echols, who retired last September. Kimball is charged with leading TRT through a merger with PENTRAN, the Peninsula's transit agency. Once the merger is complete, Michael S. Townes, PENTRAN's executive director, will head the consolidated organization. MEMO: Staff writer Mac Daniel contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Map

ROBERT D. VOROS/The Virginian-Pilot

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WEDNESDAY'S STEP

WHAT'S NEXT

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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