THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100356
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
For the second time in two years, and despite pleas for consultation from Virginia Beach's vice mayor, the Chesapeake City Council Tuesday voted 5-3 to oppose efforts to build the Southeastern Expressway.
The vote was intended as a message to the state that the city first wants improvements to Route 168.
Despite assurances from state transportation officials that the proposed expressway would not pass through Chesapeake's developed Greenbrier section, Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance and other councilmen said they wanted to take a strong stand against the road.
In 1994, at Nance's urging, the Chesapeake council voted 7-2 to oppose the road for the same reasons. Mayor William E. Ward and Councilman John W. Butt were the dissenting votes then.
In Tuesday's vote, Ward voted to approve Nance's motion. Council members Dwight Parker, Alan Krasnoff and Butt voted against it.
The Southeastern Expressway was considered dead after Chesapeake's 1994 vote. But Virginia Beach supported it and sent it to the state's Commonwealth Transportation Board, which approved it in February.
Ward said he had received a fax Tuesday from Virginia Beach Vice Mayor W.D. Sessoms Jr. asking the Chesapeake Council to meet about the road with Beach officials. by CNB