THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 49 lines
We have seen the future, and it is whizzing by on a track!
While Hampton Roads waits . . . and waits for localities to get their act together on a light-rail passenger train, the commonwealth is moving ahead with studies of high-speed rail.
This is exciting news. We can only hope that a way can be found financially to turn planners' dreams into reality for the 21st century.
A 16-member Virginia High-Speed Rail Commission began meeting this month. The politicians, transportation officials and private citizens are due to report to the General Assembly this winter.
Among the primary objectives will be recommending ways of financing a high-speed rail line linking Northern Virginia to Richmond and, eventually, Richmond to Hampton Roads.
Work already completed by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation suggests that for a capital investment of about $350 million, there could be six trips a day in each direction between Richmond and Washington, D.C.
For that sum, travel time could be reduced from 2 hours and 18 minutes to 97 minutes. Further investment in upgraded signals and crossings might whittle the trip to about one hour.
A study launched by the department three months ago is making similar estimates for a Richmond-to-Norfolk leg. The goal would be to reduce commuting time between the two cities to less than an hour.
The result would be a boost to economic interdependence along the eastern corridor of Virginia. Benefits should redound to all. To keep the political and economic mix balanced, the commission is also looking at rail options for western Virginia.
National studies show that auto usage, based on vehicular miles traveled, is growing at a rate four times the population growth. In some places, including Northern Virginia, the growth rate is twice that average.
Clearly, there is a limit to the number of roads that can be built to handle such traffic. The expense of high-speed rail is great, but it is also more environmentally friendly and less dependent on foreign oil than auto travel.
And it is an added bonus when technology can give the gift of time, as well. In terms of travel time, ``We're trying to take Norfolk and move it to where Williamsburg is and Northern Virginia and move it to where Fredericksburg is,'' explained Leo Bevon, executive director of the rail and transit department.
That's a benefit worth the price of admission. by CNB