THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411140217
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 209 lines
City councils in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are questioning for the first time whether a proposed Southeastern Expressway, at a cost of half a billion dollars, is worth the money or even necessary.
The re-examination comes at a time when the highway, which would would run 20 miles between the two cities, finally seems to be emerging from a thicket of environmental oversight that has ensnared it for years.
Public hearings will be Monday and Nov. 21 in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
The Virginia Beach City Council, which in the past was unified in its support of the highway, now is split on the project's merits.
Chesapeake City Council, always less ardent in its support, may vote against the expressway as early as Tuesday.
Each city is asking questions such as: Is this the best use of our money? If we build this, what are we losing? How will it shape the character of our community?
Together, they could kill a project that has occupied the time of many officials since it was proposed 11 years ago during the go-go growth era.
``You know what I find interesting about this project is that it seems to be driven more by the bureaucrats than the politicians,'' Chesapeake Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer said. ``Who are the individuals driving this highway to fruition? It doesn't appear to be the governing bodies.''
The project still has supporters. Arthur Collins, director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, sees the highway completing a regional network that would benefit all cities in the area. Virginia Beach Councilman William D. Sessoms views it as an economic lifeline.
``There is no question in my mind that it is something we should build,'' Sessoms said.
But it is clear that the project is receiving greater scrutiny than ever.
The biggest question critics raise is whether enough people will use this highway when - if - it's built. It would be an expressway between two suburbs, they note. The highway would run from the Greenbrier/Great Bridge area in Chesapeake through southeastern Virginia Beach below Oceana Naval Air Station to connect with the Norfolk-Virginia Beach Expressway around Laskin Road.
Neither end is a major employment center that compares to Norfolk's downtown or naval base or Portsmouth's shipyard.
Data the state compiled in a July showed that, of the region's 677,000 commuters, only about 22,000 - or 3 percent - commute between Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
By comparison, about 30 percent of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach commuters travel to Norfolk daily.
``Where are the employment patterns that support building this road?'' asked Virginia Beach Councilman John D. Moss, who once campaigned in support of the expressway.
During a briefing Tuesday to discuss the expressway in Virginia Beach, a consulting agency that has studied the road could not supply figures on who would use the highway.
``All the traffic I see (along I-44) is heading to downtown Norfolk or the naval base,'' Councilman Robert Dean said. ``I don't see traffic backed up heading to Chesapeake. Who would use this highway? What companies do they work for?''
Chris Lloyd of Maguire Associates, the principal consultant on the highway, said, ``I can't give you a definite answer at this time.''
``But this is the most important question concerning the highway,'' Dean replied.
``I'll look into this and see if I can give you a definite answer,'' Lloyd answered.
Collins, the planning district director, pointed out that there is a shopping mall in Greenbrier and a hospital and a Wal-Mart complex on Battlefield Boulevard that draw people.
``The traffic is there today,'' Collins said.
He and other supporters envision travelers from Richmond taking I-664 across the water at Newport News, heading east at I-64 for 5 miles, then going south at I-464 onto the Southeastern Expressway until they reach the Oceanfront.
``This is a regional project,'' Collins told the Virginia Beach council. ``It affects more than Virginia Beach.''
Virginia Beach council members who still support the highway believe it will bring new companies who want convenient expressway access.
``It's a combination of both traffic needs and economic development,'' Virginia Beach Councilman Sessoms said. ``The thing that makes it successful in my book is if we see strong economic development around the highway in the form of new businesses, not residential development.''
Critics such as Moss fear that an expressway will spawn mostly new homes and shopping centers, rather than attract new industries. The increased residential construction, they contend, will prove costly to both cities in the long run by expanding the demand for streets, schools and fire stations.
``I just don't see the need for this road,'' said Virginia Beach Councilwoman Barbara M. Henley. ``I don't see how we are going to generate that kind of traffic without some very intensive development.''
Expressway critics say Virginia Beach has solved many traffic problems that once were the rationale for the expressway. The city has invested heavily in other highways since 1986, spending more than $400 million improving its road system.
Built or expanded were Ferrell Parkway, Lynnhaven Parkway, Independence Boulevard, Dam Neck Road and Princess Anne Road, all of which are near the proposed path of the Southeastern Expressway.
Also expanded were I-64 and I-44, whose traffic congestion officials repeatedly mention when promoting the Southeastern Expressway. And a complete system of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes has been added to both roads, further reducing congestion.
Chesapeake council members say there is a cheaper, easier way to improve traffic flow between the two cities - extend Lynnhaven Parkway a half mile across the Virginia Beach city line to Volvo Parkway.
``Virginia Beach doesn't want to spend the dollars to connect Lynnhaven Boulevard to Volvo Parkway, but they want to build a multi-million dollar expressway?'' Chesapeake Vice Mayor Dwyer asked.
The half-mile segment is not scheduled in Virginia Beach's Capital Improvement Program. It is officially still in the planning phase.
Highway officials counter that parkways such as Lynnhaven or Volvo don't handle present or future traffic adequately.
``Roads are being widened to the point where it is no longer efficient or economic,'' said Earl T. Robb, chief environmental engineer at the Virginia Department of Transportation.
At a projected half-billion dollars, the expressway would be the most expensive public works endeavor in either city's history. Critics say that with federal and state funds tight, every project a city builds means another the city cannot.
``Do you honestly believe we will be able to build both light rail and the Southeastern Expressway?'' asked Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker during the council's review of priorities this year at its retreat.
Chesapeake council members say the state should widen Routes 168 or 17 before building the Southeastern Expressway. Those highways are major routes clogged by tourists traveling to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
``We have people dying on Route 17 and Route 168, and the state is pushing this project?'' Chesapeake Councilman Robert Nance said. ``The state has their priorities mixed up.''
Expressway opponents also worry that transportation officials haven't addressed how the highway would change the character of Chesapeake and southern Virginia Beach.
Urban experts say highways alter the economics and travel patterns of a region. A neighborhood hardware store might close because someone can drive more easily down the expressway to a warehouse-style outlet. People drive more and buy homes farther from their jobs once such a highway is built.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she worries that the Southeastern Expressway would divide the city physically and socially in the same way the Norfolk-Virginia Beach Expressway did.
Chesapeake council members fear the expressway would alter the character of the Greenbrier neighborhood.
Highway officials, though, say it's not their job to consider how the expressway would affect either the quantity or the character of businesses and homes around it.
Lloyd, the principal consultant on the project, said the cities are responsible for those matters.
For years, particularly in Virginia Beach, the Southeastern Expressway was the one project on which pro- and anti-growth factions agreed.
Virginia Beach Councilman Moss campaigned in favor of the highway in 1992. Now he opposes it. Councilwoman Henley voted in favor of the project. Now, she says she has serious doubts about its worth. Councilman Louis R. Jones says he believes some sort of road is needed, but not necessarily an expressway.
Former Mayor Harold Heischober, still active in regional affairs, was a leader of the pro-growth faction on council until his defeat in 1992. Now, Heischober says he believes the highway is not worth the money.
``In my opinion, there are other priorities Virginia Beach has that would help the image of our city and the tourism of our city more than the Southeastern Expressway,'' Heischober said.
The Chesapeake City Council may reject the project in a resolution that members intend to introduce Tuesday.
``We are planning to send a clear message to VDOT and to Virginia Beach that we don't want the Southeastern Expressway traveling through Chesapeake,'' Dwyer said.
Collins said that if Chesapeake pulls out of the project, it would have to start all over again with federal officials to receive environmental clearance to build the Oak Grove Connector Road between I-464 and 168 bypass.
The one-mile road is officially part of the expressway project. But Dwyer and Nance say they can't support a 20-mile, $500 million highway for the sake of a mile-long connector road.
``I feel like I'm being blackmailed,'' Nance said. ``Either I support this dinosaur (the Southeastern Expressway), or they'll pull clearance for the Oak Grove Connector Road.''
A VDOT spokesman, William Cannell, said either city would be free to pursue construction of any segment of the highway independently, if the expressway as a whole was abandoned.
State highway officials said the expressway plan always has progressed under the assumption that both cities want it.
``If one city votes it down, it would jeopardize the entire project,'' Cannell said. ``If both of the cities kill it, it would be a pretty much a dead duck.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
Written and researched by ALEX MARSHALL
Graphic by ROBERT D. VOROS
ELEVEN YEARS IN THE LIFE OF THE SOUTHEASTERN EXRESSWAY
THE DAILY COMMUTE
HIGHWAY COSTS
COST COMPARISON
SOURCES: Hampton Roads Crossing Study, July 1994; Public Works
Department, City of Virginia Beach
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm]
Graphic
Public hearings on the Southeastern Expressway will be held
Monday in Virginia Beach at the Radisson Hotel near the Pavilion and
Nov. 21 in Chesapeake at the Holiday Inn at Greenbrier. The hearings
will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Public hearings on the Southeastern Expressway will be held
Monday Nov. 14 in Virginia Beach at the Radisson Hotel near the
Pavilion and Nov. 21 in Chesapeake at the Holiday Inn at Greenbrier.
The hearings will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
by CNB