THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505180289
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By GERRY PORTERFIELD
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
In terms of our local transportation problems, we in the Hampton Roads area are indeed fortunate. Increased traffic implies a vibrant, robust economy that is, pardon the expression, ``going places.'' We are more economically diverse now than ever, and that trend will only continue. Likewise, our population is projected to continue its inexorable pace to 2 million.
How we are really fortunate, though, is that we can clearly see where we are headed unless we make changes now. If we desire to resemble a miniature version of Los Angeles or Houston, with all their traffic problems, then we need to do nothing. It will happen by itself.
If we wish to learn from their mistakes, we should begin immediately to address several issues which affect the perception and usability of our public transportation and, more grandly, how we organize the land uses within our cities.
Public transportation must become, to use a trite expression, more ``user friendly.'' Requiring riders to wait in the rain under an aluminum sign attached to a power pole will not solve the problem. In fact, these conditions are in reality an affront to a rider's dignity. If given a choice, anyone who has other options will take them. Indeed, these sad and drab yet numerous ``bus stops'' should be replaced with fewer but more strategically located ``transit pavilions'' possessing a more colorful and festive ambiance.
Second, the bus routes must go where people want to go and get there more directly. All major malls and employment centers should be linked with Express Service. Agreements should be struck with the larger malls to restructure a portion of their overly expansive and grossly underutilized parking areas to create transit ``exchanges.'' This makes much more sense than a ``stand alone'' park-and-ride lot, which requires property acquisition, engineering and construction costs and which becomes in effect another huge empty parking lot for two-thirds of the day. These major malls have ample parking during the weekday to accommodate the ``park and riders,'' and in the evening these same people become a ready-made source of shoppers for the mall.
As to land use, our city leaders and traffic engineers must cease thinking of our major roads as merely conveyance systems. For people to get out of their cars and use public transportation, there must be adequate sidewalks that usually connect to something. The ``street experience'' must be improved in terms of scale and amenity.
Currently, these ``conveyor'' systems are designed for speeds up to 55 mph and landscaping is an afterthought. In addition, what usually lies adjacent to them is a large, underutilized commercial parking lot - not too inviting for the pedestrian or the bus rider, because the scale of these spaces is designed for the vehicles, not the people. Experience this yourself by simply walking two blocks in either direction anywhere along the 17-mile length of Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Finally, our city planners should cease the silliness of separation of land uses. Single-use, Euclidean zoning has created our traffic problems and will only exacerbate them in the future. Creating expansive districts zoned for ``Office/Commercial/Industrial'' separated from other districts zoned for ``Multi-Family'' or ``Single Family Residential'' ensures that massive traffic will occur at two times of the day - guess when! In fact, Low Density Residential is the current method of growth control for most of our cities, when in reality this approach only guarantees the future need for wider, bigger, straight-er roads to accommodate all those single-occupancy vehicles.
Instead, the growth areas of our region - Chesapeake, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, York County, to name a few - should be thinking in terms of more intense clustering of activities and land uses in fewer, more appropriate places. They should think in terms of focusing growth in areas more aptly situated to accommodate it while preserving natural areas, farmland or lower density between them. A proactive approach to land planning, not reactive.
In other words, each growth area should look upon itself not as a single city but as a collection of smaller, more distinct and geographically identifiable towns within the corporate limits of the larger city, all of which are connected via the public transportation system.
Yes, we are fortunate that we have the time to begin changing our ways of doing things. The question is, ``Do we have the will?'' I hope so. Otherwise we'll simply drive ourselves crazy. MEMO: Mr. Porterfield is president of the Porterfield Design Center. This
article is adapted from the newsletter of the Hampton Roads Public
Transportation Alliance.
by CNB