THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Don't let VDOT or any traffic engineer near a single tree! Well, maybe that is a little extreme, but look around the area.
I moved here 15 years ago from New England. There were many trees and green areas. The roads made the entire area attractive.
In the name of progress, and road improvements that clearly were needed, VDOT and traffic engineering ``experts'' seem to have cut down every tree they could possibly get their hands on. The total effect is devastating. Our area looks more like Arlington every day. I-64 in Norfolk is now barren. Trees and greenery are cut out just to pile up dirt. There has to be a better way.
In ``A safer Shore Drive'' (news, Jan. 22), city traffic engineer Richard H. Nettleton blandly states that for a new road, every tree within 24 feet would have to come out. It is a cold fact that is decreed by . . . God? The state Constitution? Some lawyer? Someone scared of a lawyer? It would be great if design criteria could be rethought, or at least tempered a bit. We do not need every road to look like the New Jersey Turnpike.
I do not see shoulders or cutting down trees as solutions for Shore Drive. There is no assurance that removing a few trees, or even all of the trees within 15, 24 or any number of feet, will prevent the next fatality. It is probably the most attractive road in the area.
Certainly some improvements can be made. Bright lines and reflective bumps work wonders for anyone who is driving in a manner that is reasonably safe. Maybe a few dips should be flattened out. If guard rails were built, would they be obtrusive? I doubt it.
Leave the scenic road. It just might save a few of our lives through peace and tranquillity.
TOM KENNEDY
Chesapeake, Jan. 22, 1996 by CNB