DATE: Friday, September 19, 1997            TAG: 9709190991

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ARLINGTON                         LENGTH:   73 lines

STATE OKS 3RD HARBOR CROSSING DESIGN, ENGINEERING CAN BEGIN ON $2.4 BILLION BRIDGE-TUNNEL

A state board Thursday endorsed a corridor for a new $2.4-billion bridge-tunnel across Hampton Roads, clearing the way for design work to begin.

With little discussion, the Commonwealth Transportation Board unanimously approved the route preferred by regional leaders that runs from Norfolk International Terminal across to Craney Island in Portsmouth and over to Newport News along the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.

Proponents say a new crossing linking South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula will alleviate congestion at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel that threatens to choke the region's economy.

The selected route better links the region's ports, military installations and shipyards, regional leaders agree.

The bridge and tunnel can be built in usable segments, providing more immediate traffic relief and easing the initial financial burden.

The overall burden will be large: The projected cost is roughly equal to the region's entire highway construction budget for the next 20 years.

Officials will explore state and federal funding sources, as well as tolls and gas and sales tax increases, to pay for the new crossing.

The board's approval Thursday allows the Virginia Department of Transportation to begin work on preliminary engineering and design for the project, as well as on an environmental impact statement.

That work can begin almost immediately, said Gerald W. Sears, VDOT principal transportation engineer, because money is already available. About $1 million is left unspent on a $6 million consulting contract with Michael Baker Jr. Inc. for the first study.

The length and cost of the next study has not yet been determined, Sears said.

Even as the state board endorsed the crossing plan Thursday, it attached a condition that could later jeopardize the project.

The Virginia Beach City Council had approved the new span on the condition that VDOT study improving Route 460 as a western gateway to South Hampton Roads.

The transportation board instead said it would consider exploring improvements to Route 460 only if a different study now under way shows that an analysis of 460 is needed.

That study, the TransAmerican Feasibility Study, is looking at upgrading roads from the West Virginia line to Virginia Beach, including Route 460, to create an east-west thoroughfare. It will be complete in about a year.

``That falls a little short of what we put in the Virginia Beach resolution'' approving the third bridge-tunnel crossing, said Virginia Beach Councilman Louis Jones. ``But I don't think we'd take the posture that we'd pull out now.''

Jones said the council would have to wait a year for the Trans-American findings, then reconsider its support for the third crossing.

Arthur Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which is also pushing for Route 460 improvements, accused the state of ducking the Route 460 issue.

``I have a sense of disappointment in the level of effort . . . to address issues that are important to Hampton Roads,'' Collins said.

Because the TransAmerican study is a statewide effort, Collins said, ``we're at the mercy of people outside of Hampton Roads . . . who have their own ideas and priorities.

``That doesn't give me a very comfortable feeling.''

Route 460 improvements were eliminated from the 12 options examined for the third bridge-tunnel crossing because it did not meet the goal of reducing traffic at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel by at least 10 percent.

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is at capacity, and projections show the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel will approach capacity in about three years.

The study recommended building a tunnel that would have two lanes in each direction plus two lanes for multi-modal traffic, such as carpools, express buses or light rail. ILLUSTRATION: Map

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