Quote:
Originally Posted by rtandc
No you said light rail would run to ODU and Hampton Blvd which is false, everything else as far a light rail running to the beach and other cities is just your vision and you do not have any facts that light rail will be coming to the beach you just hope it does...so far besides the starter line in Norfolk everything else is just a possibility....Its possible I might win the Lotto tomorrow night also but I am not counting on it........
Hampton Roads is not layed out property for light rail to be effective and the cost will be super high just due to the number of waterways and wetlands this area has......Hampton Roads has always been very vehicle dependant and running a few miles of light rail tracks around Hampton Roads will not solve that problem
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Have you ever heard of transit oriented development? The idea is to change our areas style of growth because, quite frankly, we're out of space. We can no longer sustain rapid suburban sprawl. The idea is to focus future development around the transit line and thus limit the need for additional roads and infrastructure. The idea is not now, nor has it ever been, to service every little suburban neighborhood. Saying HR is not laid out to support light rail is a red herring because the idea is to develop in a manner that does support it. There are indeed very serious plans to extend light rail to the beach, Portsmouth, and the Peninsula, so your statement that it is simply cityboi's vision is patently false. Lets start with Va. Beach:
Va. Beach buys Circuit City property for possible light rail stop
Light Rail EIS underway
Va. Beach signs agreement to acquire NS right of way
"Mayor William D. Sessoms Jr. announced today that the City of Virginia Beach has signed an agreement with Norfolk Southern Corp. to acquire the railroad right-of-way that runs through the city. The right-of-way is being studied as a possible route for light rail from Norfolk to the Virginia Beach resort.
“With this agreement, we have acquired a strategic opportunity – a big, exciting opportunity,” Mayor Sessoms said. “It’s an opportunity to start weaning ourselves away from the stranglehold of automobiles as our only mode of mobility. It’s an opportunity to create new centers of growth that will bring new jobs and new taxes that will relieve the burden on the average Virginia Beach homeowner.
“Finally, it’s an opportunity for regional cooperation – to work with Norfolk and other neighbors to create a truly regional network, tying our cities even closer together.”
Mayor Sessoms announced the agreement at a news conference at the Virginia Beach Convention Center prior to his first State of the City Address. Also speaking at the news conference were Pierce R. Homer, Virginia Secretary of Transportation; State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle; Deb H. Butler, executive vice president for planning for Norfolk Southern; and Michael S. Townes, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit
The rail line is no longer in use. It runs 10.6 miles from the Norfolk city line at Newtown Road to Birdneck Road, roughly parallel to Interstate 264.
According to the agreement:
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The City of Virginia Beach will provide $10 million toward the purchase.
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The Commonwealth of Virginia will provide $20 million.
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Hampton Roads Transit will provide $5 million.
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Norfolk Southern will retain an easement for the Dominion Resource transmission line that runs along the right-of-way. Virginia Beach has an exclusive three-year option to buy that easement from Norfolk Southern for $5 million.
“Where we go from there is up to us,” Mayor Sessoms said. “I know I will be pushing hard to make light rail a reality. I hope to make the case for it everywhere I speak in the coming years.”
^^^I suppose this quote from the mayor was dreamed up as well.
Portsmouth:
Light rail discussed for midtown tunnel expansion
Newport News:
The Newport News plans have stalled due to the fact that the third crossing has stalled. There are plans to include a tube that can accommodate rail when the third crossing is built.
Look, I get it, you hate light rail. You've used pretty much every talking point that the VBTA (Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance) uses, but we cannot simply pave our way out of this problem. We can only make the freeways so wide. We can only pave so much land. People love to rant on about light rail and taxes as though building and maintaining new roads doesn't cost any tax money.
Simply because you won't ride it doesn't mean others won't. A city as large as ours needs transit alternatives. The folks up in Nova said the exact same things you did only they said it 30 years ago. Land in Arlington was a patchwork of subdivisions much like Va. Beach today. Now, the metro is indispensable. Traffic in Nova is horrendous but imagine how much worse it would be without the metro which carries hundreds of thousands of people per day. We can either all stick our collective heads in the sand and act as though nothing will change forever and ever or we can actually be proactive about some of these problems and at least make the effort to address them.
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