DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080433

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION '97

AT ISSUE: SPENDING PRIORITIES

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:  120 lines

TRAFFIC CUTS INTO FAMILY TIME FOR WORKING PAIR

Kim and Barnard Ingram have a 4-month-old baby. But there are days when they seem to spend more time staring at the brake lights of the cars in front of them than watching their daughter play.

Barnard spends two hours a day in traffic commuting to work from Suffolk to Virginia Beach and back again. Kim puts in at least an hour behind the wheel commuting to Norfolk. Baby Nia has recently joined them in their daily commute.

``It's definitely a challenge,'' Kim said. ``It's not so much the distance as the time and dealing with tunnel traffic and highway traffic. This morning, we were both on the verge of flipping a coin to see who's going to drop the baby off. It was a question of who could afford to be the most late. Today that was me.''

The Ingrams both have good jobs and their own home in Sleepy Point. Barnard, 28, is a financial adviser for American Express Financial Services, and Kim, 27, is a radio announcer with jazz station WJCD-FM, CD 105.9. They've been married for nearly five years.

But their daily commutes keep them from spending as much time at home as they'd like.

``We get up pretty much whenever she wakes up,'' Barnard said. ``We're always up by quarter to 6, and I have to be out the door by 7, or even before 7, or else I'm late to work.''

Their schedules sometimes make it difficult to pick up the baby on time. Barnard rarely gets home before 8:45 p.m. All too often, he's not home before 10 p.m. Kim typically leaves the house at 7:30 a.m. and returns home by 4 p.m.

``If Kim is running later in the afternoon and she has to leave around traffic time, between 3:30 to 5, it gets stressful, because we have to pick her (Nia) up by 6 p.m.,'' he said.

The couple's baby sitter will watch Nia after 6 p.m., but they have to pay extra.

``Yesterday I was stuck in traffic because I got out of a meeting a little later than usual,'' Kim said. ``I was frantically trying to call day care to let them know I'd be a half hour late. If there's an accident in the tunnel, 6 o'clock goes out the window.''

The worst part of their commute is the Downtown Tunnel leaving Portsmouth, they said. Kim wishes the Virginia Department of Transportation would develop a better system of clearing accidents in the tunnel.

``I know it's a tunnel, and there's only one way in, but once there's an accident in there, all you can do is sit and wait,'' Kim said.

Kim also wishes Hampton Roads had more alternate routes. Now she has two unsavory choices: take the most direct route and get stuck in one traffic jam or drive many miles out of her way and risk getting caught behind another accident.

Barnard supports the idea of businesses helping their employees use public transportation and ride-sharing programs. He'd like to use public transportation, he said, but his job requirements won't allow it. His hours are long and irregular, and he frequently needs to use his car to drive to meetings.

Barnard hailed the recent announcement of plans for a light rail system from Norfolk to Virginia Beach.

Yet much of Hampton Roads' fastest residential growth has been in outlying areas of Chesapeake and Suffolk, he noted. Barnard hopes Virginia's leaders will increase mass transit and fund road improvements to highways there, as well.

``They need a comprehensive study of where the major traffic holdups are,'' Barnard said. ``We definitely need some kind of rail system that would limit the number of traffic delays. . . . We're growing by leaps and bounds out here.''

In the meantime, the Ingrams - like many working couples with small children - try to work around their frustrations.

``It takes a lot of planning,'' Kim said. ``A lot of planning.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Kim and Barnard Ingram...

Graphic

CANDIDATES RESPOND

Photos

BEYER

GILMORE

Kim and Barnard Ingram's question: Getting to and from work is

getting harder and harder for the people who live in Hampton Roads.

Please cite five solutions you'll work on to ease the transportation

crunch.

Beyer

We can build what we need by securing a greater share of federal

transportation dollars through legislation now in Congress and by

leveraging more private money for projects through public-private

partnerships.

I am committed to projects for Hampton Roads, including

construction of a third tunnel.

To reduce traffic at peak hours, I will encourage companies and

government to use strategic flex time - staggering the start and end

times for employees - and encourage more telecommuting that will

allow employees to use the Internet and computer technology while

working from home.

To help more Virginians afford cars, I will eliminate the

personal property tax for the average taxpayer - next year.

Gilmore\

1. Cutting the car tax: The biggest transportation crunch all

Virginians face is paying their personal property tax bills.

2. No raids on the Transportation Trust Fund: Not one penny of

the Transportation Trust Fund should be used for anything other than

transportation. In previous administrations, the road fund was

raided to pay for non-transportation projects.

3. Complete new projects: I want to build a third crossing in

Hampton Roads and name it ``The Ronald Reagan Bridge-Tunnel.''

4. Light rail for Hampton Roads: I intend to examine building a

light rail system for Hampton Roads.

5. More federal transportation money: I will work with Virginia's

congressional delegation to get more funds for our transportation

network. The last federal transportation spending bill significantly

short-changed Virginia. KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE VIRGINIA

PLATFORMS BUDGET CANDIDATES

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