I’m not sure which epitaph is
appropriate for the latest attempt to extend light rail to Hilltop and possibly
the oceanfront.
Which route is best?
Hilltop? Or via Oceana?
Should it even be extended
to Virginia Beach?
I think not.
Light rail is becoming
more about moving property values instead of moving people.
Absent from the
discussion.
A mass transit system
isn’t just about a railroad moving between point A and B. It’s about a web of
connections between your neighborhoods and a rail station.
You can’t take a railroad
and move it where people are clustered. You have to connect it to buses,
ferries and trolleys.
Where’s the plan for that?
But light rail is today’s
fad du jour.
Tomorrow, it might be
high-speed ferries between Norfolk Naval Base and the Peninsula.
Wait, actually, maybe we
should try that before we build another crossing between the Peninsula and Norfolk.
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| Build for the future |
The dialogue about light
rail has conveniently left out a link to Norfolk Naval Base, possibly the most
heavily traveled corridor in the region.
Between Chesapeake,
Portsmouth and Norfolk.
Between Virginia
Beach and Norfolk.
Forget Virginia Beach.
Let’s get the Navy and the
feds to finance a portion of a rail link between Newtown Road and Norfolk Naval Base, with
a route to Norfolk
International Airport.
Let’s start there first.
And Newtown Road could be the nexus for
trains traveling north and south and east and west.
A Grand Central station,
so to speak.
But we have a failure to
communicate.
Here are some examples.
Talks have also died about
a link between downtown Norfolk and Old Dominion
University.
And no one has heard
anymore about a link, under the harbor, between the Peninsula and Norfolk.
These proposals are on the
books. They have been planned and then they were shelved.
Conveniently.
Too much money, officials
said.
We have to pick and choose
our projects, officials advise.
But somebody chose for us.
A second Mid-Town Tunnel.
With tolls. And to pay investors, Elizabeth River Crossings will also toll the
Downtown Tunnel and the Martin Luther King Freeway.
A judge has ruled that the
tolls are unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, ERC is
installing readers for EZ passes.
The lawsuit and
counter-lawsuits will continue for years.
Close to $1 billion of
public money is financing a four lane highway between Suffolk
and Petersburg.
It will have tolls, when
it opens.
For what, pray tell?
Could some of that money
be diverted to the financing of the tunnels?
To widening Interstate-64
to four lanes to Richmond?
Regionalism isn’t broken.
It never was.
You might be onto something. After looking at a map and considering traffic patterns and population densities, I think a "central terminal" at Newtown road would make a lot of sense. From there you could build north to the airport and various locations on the bay. You could also go south to Regent and to the Greenbrier areas. It could actually help clear several of our transportation bottlenecks.
ReplyDeleteYou must realize there are three things that prop up this local economy.
ReplyDelete1) Fed spending (defense)
2) Port Activity
3) Tourism
The idea that the locals are so blind as to rail against transportation upgrades that will boost 2 and 3, when they know 1 is fading just doesn't add up in my mind.
The 460 job is means almost solely for 2. An additional emergency egress is just an added bonus.
Tolls are the most direct way of taxation. Could you imagine the rise to your VA taxes if the state demanded only locals foot the bill for local improvements? We are lucky to have ANY private investors who are willing to invest in our sinking, dying cut-off area. So cheer your activist judges, cheer your free commute that takes an hour to cross waterways. Just don't complain when housing values start plummeting.
I've always thought a "loop" would be the best option.with light rail moving from downtown, through Wards Corner to the base and then onto the airport and Newtown... only makes sense.
ReplyDelete