VIRGINIA BEACH
On one hand, envision a boxy truss bridge linking Town Center to Pembroke Mall. Cost: $2.6 million. More expensive to maintain in the future.
On the other, picture a more stylish, arched walkway that catches the eye. Cost: $2.9 million. Smaller maintenance budget in the years ahead.
"It's kind of a wash," said Mark Wawner, the city's project manager for Town Center. "Given that, why not choose the one with the more grand visual impression?"
The Virginia Beach Development Authority agreed Tuesday, giving an engineering firm the go-ahead to design the more expensive bridge over Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The elevated walkway would span roughly 160 feet, starting near the corner of Central Park Avenue and ending at the SunTrust Bank outside the mall.
A separate, 300-foot bridge could later connect the first span to the mall's entrance. The city would try to partner with the mall in the future to pay for that, but it's better to do all the design work up front, Wawner said.
"Design the whole thing," he added, "so it fits together and can be constructed at the same time."
The design for the piece over the Boulevard could be finished in six months, but the City Council still has to decide whether to set aside construction money to build it. If money is budgeted, the walkway could open in about two years.
Some council members were reluctant to commit to any additional spending Tuesday.
"We have to reserve judgement pending a serious look at our budget situation," Councilman Bob Dyer said. "The pedestrian bridge is necessary for a safety reason, but I don't know that we can afford to be grandiose."
Wawner said the bridge from Town Center across Virginia Beach Boulevard is mainly needed for safety reasons. Currently, pedestrians scurry across 10 lanes, often stopping in the middle to wait for traffic signals to change.
Councilman Ron Villanueva said the city should look into getting Town Center businesses - which would benefit from the link to the mall - to help pay construction costs.
"Is our business community willing to step up and help us?" he asked. "Times are tough. Public-private partnerships... are a must."
Just not in this case, said Pearl Smith, executive director of the Central Business District Association, which covers the Town Center area.
Smith said the bridge is a safety improvement, not an economic development project the private sector should help finance.
The city paid the $1.75 million it cost for a pedestrian bridge linking the Westin Hotel & Residences to the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods.
"It's a problem with accidents," Smith added. "You're taking your life into your hands crossing that boulevard. I think it's a city project."
Wawner noted that if a pedestrian bridge is built to connect to the mall entrance to the bridge from Town Center, the mall's developers will be asked to help pay for it.
Ramsay Smith, senior vice president of Pembroke Enterprises Inc., which acts as asset manager for the mall, said he is "willing to participate" but said no decisions have been made.
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Hey debi!
Your comment to baobabs makes absolutely no sense. Yet, Baobabs indeed makes a very good point. I believe baobabs is not telling you to look around this area, but in fact look at other cities our size (or smaller), but have done a lot more. How do they do it? They don't have morons who think they live in a small town!!!
Does anyone have an answer?
Does anyone know how the citizens of Virginia Beach can stop this monster from being built? There must be some right of the taxpayers to prevent such a huge waste of the money the city has so eagerly picked from our pockets... If anyone knows, please post the information here so we can all make use of it!
Back on Topic - Just Slow it Down
What concerns me is that we haven’t already done other things like slow down the traffic in the town center area. I have never seen a similar area in any other city where the speed limit was much faster than 25 or 30 mph. When you have a speed limit of 45, you have cars travelling at least 50, if not 60 mph! I’m surprised there have not been a few pedestrian fatalities by now. The speed limit should be reduced from Aragona to Thalia on the Blvd. and from Jeanne to the I264 (expressway) overpass on Independence. As others have mentioned, you won’t find many pedestrian bridges in larger cities. Spend the bridge money on speed limit signs, better traffic controls, and enforcement.
Oops....
Sorry about that typo Babs...meant to say "seen it..."
Hey Baobabs!
I AM from Podunk VB/Hampton Roads. I've seen in all....watched it all grow up. You must like the simply silly and absurd life.
Use the TIF to pay for the bridge
The town center had a TIF set up to pay for infrastructure. Why isnt that money being used to pay for the pedestrian bridge. Further if the bridge isnt going to link to the Mall and adjoining restaurants, why is it even being built. If it is going to link the mall and restaurants why aren they paying for it.
My beautiful commentry
1st, why not make it go all the way over to the mall. Above the parking lot. Wait. Why not make it a monorail, perhaps use ODUs maglev system. Wait, why not make it go all around the city of the Virginia Beach. Make it big, and tall, and make it cast shadows as it blows past the blight rail relic Norfolk is deploying. 2nd, why isn't the bridge going to be done in time to hang lots of Ron Paul for President banners? 3rd, a pedestrian
trebochet might be more entertaining. 4th, tax income is going down as home values shrivel.
ABSURD
I have not read nor seen any indication that the private property owner(s)of Pembroke Mall are willing to enter into a written long term formal agreement to provide/permit vehicular parking on thier private property. After all, isn't that the real purpose here to provide additional parking for Towne Center. There are No Parking/ Towing Enforced (Except For Mall Patrons while on Premises) signage currently displayed @ Pembroke Mall. So how do the taxpayers justify $3.0M + to provide pedestrians to cross the blvd. from a private parking lot that they are likley to be ticketed or towed from?
Crosswalks
Someone pointed out the lack of pedestrian bridges in NYC. So true. What makes the Blvd so special? If motorists AND pedestrians would BOTH share responsibilities 50/50 then we wouldn't need this! In plain English: Both motorists AND pedestrians MUST look BOTH WAYS before crossing.
No, no, no, no, NO!
Virginia Beach residents are sick of being robbed by city council to fund stupid garbage like this! Virginia Beach Blvd is a LONG road and people cross it all over Virginia Beach and Norfolk. How often do you hear about a death from someone being hit crossing the boulevard? Yeah, me neither. There is a parking garage on the Town Center side and a HUGE parking lot on the Pembroke Mall side. If you want to go to one or the other, park on the right side for it. If you want to get off your butt and walk, make sure you look both ways before crossing! I could support getting a crossing guard but even that isn't really needed. Absolutely no multi-million bridge built by the taxpayers is necessary!
bridge
Before anyone compares these streets here to the ones in New York, remember that turning right on red is illegal in NY. It makes it alot easier to cross the streets when you don't have cars turning towards you. With that being said, I wonder why everyone here is so against any kind of change in the area? How long do you want VB to stay some third rate area? How many more "affordable" restaurants do you want? Aren't there enough Applebees, IHOPS and McDonalds for you? If money hasn't been spent trying to provide some sort of entertainment/eating establishments, all of you would be complaining that there is nowhere to go/eat, nothing to do.
Wait!!!
I just think, if they can build it - they will!! A bridge is not what we need, like one post said-lower the speed limit, have police out there-giving out tickets to those who are speeding, and have the speed limit reduced to 15MPH-in that area- Wow that is so much easier and the city makes money!!! Besides, big cities like NYC-dont have bridge to walk over,and they have more traffic, walkers then VB will ever have!! If you cant walk across vb blvd-you have problems-dont go to real city!!!
What else can you get for 3 Million Dollars?
Since by the time it's completed it will surely be 3 Mil or more:
How about a crossing guard or 2.
Better painted lines and crosswalks.
Signal lights designed for pedestrians.
Honestly I've walked the streets of NYC, Vegas and Town Center without any safety issues. Didn't your parents teach you to look both ways?
home bodies
You guys obviously need to get out more and explore the happenings in and around this "podunk." Better yet, why don't you take a trip (yes, that would require your leaving your own home) outside the area to see what other councilperson-"idiots" have done for...er...to their home towns. But since your scripts have already been written, we all know you wouldn't go--and if you did--you wouldn't have a very good time.
aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd...
I'll betcha that nice big [unnecessary] bridge will have ELEVATORS for all to access it. You don't think council members are going to make people walk up and down STAIRS do you??? Ain't it great folks?!
To me, the town center looks out of place -- like it dropped out of the sky and landed right in the middle of Podunk....and city council keeps throwing more money at it to try to make it look less out of place. It'll never happen unless they wipe out everything else all the way down VB Blvd right up to the water's edge and start over!
Wow....
this thing looks big enough to have bridge lifts -- maybe cause nosebleeds [uh oh -- someone could sue for that...].
What else will VB council think of to depart money from taxpayers wallets...
Wow....
this thing looks big enough to have bridge lifts!
What ELSE will VB city council think of to depart money from taxpayers wallets...
Really?
We don't NEED an expensive pedestrian bridge to cross a street just because Virginia Beach Boulevard is a busy street. I've crossed this road with my family in the middle of town center many times without any problems.
Do adjustments need to be made to the existing crosswalk signals? YES.
Do we need MORE crosswalk signals like other cities do? YES.
Are we going to cry "pedestrian bridge" at every crossing of VB Blvd? I hope not.
You don't see pedestrian bridges all over NYC or Boston do you? NO.
Are NYC roads very busy? YES.
Do crossing signal signs work? YES.
Obviously the developers have city council in their back pockets... I'm very interested in progress, but lets use our money wisely.
Missing from the artist's rendering...
are the pedestrians walking across the street in the shade of the bridge to avoid going up two flights of stairs on one end and down two flights on the other end.
The over-priced catwalk at Town Center
Where in the world is our esteemed City Council getting all this money for such a superfluous bridge? Our elected officials are constantly stating that we are in a shortfall position with funds but they go and agree on the most expensive bridge plan. To the Councilpeople that are up for re-election in the near future...you must not want to keep your Council seat!
Tell them yourselves
Tell them yourselves instead of blowing steam here. Better yet, attend the council meetings - I have.
Here are the city email addresses for the mayor, the vice-mayor, and each council member:
moberndo@VBgov.com
lrjones@VBgov.com
hediezel@VBgov.com
bdyer@VBgov.com
juhrin@VBgov.com
rmcclana@vbgov.com
bhenley@VBgov.com
bdesteph@VBgov.com
rvillanu@VBgov.com
rcwilson@VBgov.com
jlwood@VBgov.com
More money
Okay Va Beach, go ahead and throw away more money. The town center is not what everyone thought it would be...Va Beach has to accept what it is (a small beach resort town) and let it be. Why is it that the municipal offices, courts, etc., are not at the town center? That's probably where they belong. The huge buildings stick out like a sore thumb and seem really out of place. Just more tax payer money down the drain.
I Was Going To Say Something
Derogatory about this bridge for OUR Town Center which most of the citizens didn't want in the first place, like the 31st street hotel, light rail etc, but if I do, it will just go in 11 ears and out the other 11 ears, and the mayor will be happy with HER Town Center. As someone has already said, too rich for their blood. What improvements are gthey making for the common family in the way off affordable shopping and restaurants? NOTHING. Now they want to build a state of the art crosswalk bridge for the developers and shop owners, because people don't know how to use the crosswalks properly at the 99.44 percent citizens expense who don't go to the town center. They the city and developers are lucky I even drive by that area and they can forget it if they think I will ever utilize any of their over priced shops and restaurants. Next they will be wanting to build a bridge to get to the light rail system at the city limits.
No way!
Is Mr. Villanueva the only one with a brain on the city council? He is right have the bussiness owners foot the bill! I can manage to walk across the street with no problem! Hint: I look both ways, and walk when the cars are STOPPED!!!
Not that I go down there much (to rich for my blood), also if the bussiness dont want to pay, then have the people who want the bridge pay!! Why should I pay for something I will NEVER use?!?!?
ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH
When is Virginia Beach going to stop taking MY money and funding the pet projects of PRIVATE businesses and political donors? Enough already!! Do we really need the taxpayers to fund a bridge so the employees at private busineeses don't have to wait at a crossing light to shop or eat at Pembroke Mall? Is this why my property taxes have doubled? ENOUGH is ENOUGH!! Virginia Beach needs to GET OUT of the private sector and leave such projects to the developers. Let the developers increase the rent to the businesses that will utilize the bridge, not the taxpayers who won't!
Wow
For that price I hope that they make the Gusset plates thick enough...
Where and how do you get on?
From the picture, it looks like the bridge juts out from the sidewalk on the Town Center side. How do you get on the thing? Do you climb up a ladder? A rope? Are there outside stairs? Do you have to go inside a Town Center building first? How does someone in a wheelchair use it? Also, can't this be prefabed to reduce the time to build? If this was a Donald Trump project, my guess is that it would be up in six months, or he'd fire the whole team and get more competence into the project. Last thought: the only reason we need the bridge is for three types of people: old...fat...or, disabled. In all three cases, they just move too slow to beat the traffic lights across the Boulevard. How will old, or fat, or old fat, or old fat disabled people get up what I presume are stairs? Just wondering?
Solutions
Because I question the inane fiscal ability of council, here's a few solutions:
1) Use the parking garage folks - that's what it's there for!
2) If you wish to shop at Pembroke Mall, park over there!
3) Slow traffic down in the block or two near Town Center and beef up the crosswalks.
4) Leave the crosswalks as they are and put two (2) VB police officers there for 12 hours per day. Cost: $35K salary each x 2 officers = $70K/yr cost, divided into $2.6M means we could have the police out there (two of them) for over 37 years.
Wake up Council!!!
really?
Almost $23,000 per foot for this bridge. What are they doing, gold plating it? And two years to build it? Too often these guys vote Yes or No on these things, instead of looking at how it would be done. If someone sane were looking at this, they would make someone justify the cost and time to build it. But that's too much to ask, isn't it?
Smells funny
Does this smell like an oceanfront hotel to anyone??? $2.6 MILLION to build a bridge? VB's kangaroo council is at it again folks. More misspent funds in the name of - I can't even come up with any possible rationale for this latest fiscal blunder that will gouge the pocketbooks of our citizens yet again.
If this bridge were being built across the Potomac, the Colorado, or the Mississippi rivers, I could see the multi-million dollar price tag. All I can see with this one is some commercial contractor getting a fat payday. Sound familiar?
How many bids do you think VB City Council received for this project? I don't know, but I'd be surprised if it was more than one (1)! I'll do a little FOIA digging in the next week or so...