The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
The city is about to receive a $20 million state grant to help buy the old Norfolk Southern rail line right of way, which long has been coveted for light rail.
The money means the city will have the $40 million the railroad wants for the land. A deal for the 66-foot-wide corridor is expected to be announced next week.
The 10.6-mile rail line, an extension of the Norfolk Tide route that's under construction in Norfolk, runs east and west across the Beach from Newtown Road to Birdneck Road. If light rail is built, stops along the way could link Norfolk to Town Center and the resort area.
The City Council has informally agreed to ante up $10 million. Hampton Roads Transit, the region's transportation agency, would contribute $5 million, and Norfolk Southern would get the remaining $5 million from easement payments on the land, under the deal.
Purchasing the right of way would be a major step toward bringing light rail to the Beach, but it would not be a guarantee. Environmental impact studies, City Council - and perhaps voter - approval, and determining how to pay for it, all could take months. Or years.
The $40 million price tag matches a 2003 Norfolk Southern appraisal of the land. A city appraisal valued the land at about $6 million. Norfolk Southern pays taxes on $7.3 million, the corridor's assessed value.
"I think the price is fair, all things considered," said state Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, who helped secure the state money. "Had we gone into condemnation proceedings, Norfolk Southern would not have gotten $50 million, and Virginia Beach would not have been able to acquire it for less than $10 million. There was gamesmanship in both appraisals."
The $50 million is a reference to a 2008 Norfolk Southern appraisal of the land.
Norfolk paid the railroad $5 million for its 5 -mile segment and gave the company a $2.6 million parking discount in city garages, bringing the total package to $7.6 million, or $1.5 million per mile.
At $40 million, the Virginia Beach segment will cost $3.8 million per mile, more than double the price for Norfolk's line. The Beach line passes through valuable real estate, and development around it will eventually make up for the purchase price, Beach officials have said.
A majority of City Council members have said they favor holding a referendum on light rail. In 1999, Beach residents rejected light rail 56 percent to 44 percent.
Mayor Will Sessoms, who led negotiations with Norfolk Southern, declined to comment on the deal. "I'll be happy to talk about it next week," he said. Sessoms is giving his first State of the City speech Thursday.
Pierce Homer, state secretary of transportation, said the $20 million probably will not come immediately.
"The issue is not whether there will be a grant, the question is when," he said. "We have to factor cash flow into the calculations. It's like any household budget. We may need to repaint the house this summer, but we may not have sufficient funds to pay the painter until the month of August."
Any delay on the money probably won't slow light rail ambitions, however.
Hampton Roads Transit, the region's transportation agency, is expected to hire a consultant for a $3.5 million to $5 million light rail feasibility study. And Beach officials are moving ahead with plans for what they call "Strategic Growth Areas," or high-density urban-style development along the rail line.
"The important thing to understand is the regional significance of the project," Homer said. "We have kept our commitment to transit and light rail. This is the early stage of the project. Acquiring the right of way is important, but there's a long way to go."
Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com
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alexvb
Most of the power in this country comes from oil and coal, so you're using carbon to power the "quiet electric" train you long for.
BRT vs LRT continued:
The line is now so busy during rush hours, that passengers at the closer in stops to the end of the line where it meets the Red line subway are now standing and watching 3 or 4 full buses go by, before they can finally get on a bus. LA cannot increase the capacity of the line, and it's not a lack of buses. If they increase service anymore, the cross streets will get so backed up that it will paralyze the neighborhoods that the line runs through.
So LA has now started studying how they can convert the BRT line to LRT and do it without shutting down the BRT completely during the construction. The only other alternative being considered is possibly building a subway, which would then replace the BRT line.
RobertP wrote: "BRT is cheap and far superior to light rail."
BRT maybe cheaper upfront to build and install, but long term it costs more to operate than LRT, and it is certainly not superior to LRT in all aspects. You mentioned Boston, where there BRT runs in the underground tunnels at a top speed of 15 MPH on some of the worst pavement I've even been on.
You also mentioned NY, which only has one line that even comes close to qualifying as BRT and afaik it does not have signal preemption, nor does it run in a dedicated ROW.
And then there is LA, which quite honestly probably does have the nation's most successful BRT line, the Orange line. Unfortunately the Orange line has also become a victim of its own success and is quickly becoming the poster child for why LRT should have been the choice.
Santa wrote:
"If the private sector is not jumping at the opportunity to build light rail it must be a worthless and terrible idea for using taxpayer dollars."
By that logic then the highways must be worthless and a terrible idea, since there isn't anyone from the private sector jumping at the opportunity to build their own highways with their own money.
grant
i guess all of you negative commenters about the light rail, would rather have the grant money go to deadbeat homeowners who cant pay their house payments.
Monorail...
Monorail...
Monorail...
MONORAAAAIIILLLLL!!!
...Mono...D'OH!
This money would have been better spent...
gutting and rehabbing section 8 housing or helping people with older homes to modernize! That would have employed carpenters, plumbers, HVAC workers, roofers, siding people and electricians (like me). That would have improved the city much better than this. Same thing with Norfolk! Just think how many more construction workers would not be on unemployment today if the money would have been "spread around a little"! Just think how much nicer Norfolk could have been. Just think how nice it would have been for everday "Joes" to keep their jobs. Of course I'm naive to think that liberal democrats really care about the "poor" and "middle class" people. Light rails will not improve the lives of everday people but the lives of fat cat state contractors who have friends in Richmond.
will be as successful as San Diego area Sprinter
The Sprinter light rail in San Diego area, CA, is approaching one year old and has had One Million FEWER riders than projected. This is what we have to look forward to for our hard earned tax dollars. Sure hope our Mayor plans to ride it to/from his job EVERY day.....he will probably be the only one.
Why is this discussion taking place during a major recession?
Why is this discussion even taking place during a major recession? Twenty million of State money is not chump change when I 64 and 264 are full of potholes. The land is going nowhere and Norfolk Southern will never have another buyer. If the private sector is not jumping at the opportunity to build light rail it must be a worthless and terrible idea for using taxpayer dollars.
Already Studied It
Already studied it and can assure you it is shovel ready. Horse Manure Shovel Ready that is!! Send me the million dollar fee out of some of that Chinese yen yang stimulus money that we don't know how long we will be repaying.