In bits and pieces, light rail moves forward in Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

The first signs of a light-rail project are coming this summer.

From traffic-counting tubes, to biologists tramping through wetlands, to newsletters, residents will see the start of the $1.5 million study to evaluate extending light rail to the Beach from Norfolk.

Project boosters say they will start shaping their messages to build support for the mass-transit project that was vetoed by voters 56 percent to 44 percent in a referendum 10 years ago.

"I'm going to do everything I can do to move light rail forward. I believe in that strongly," Mayor Will Sessoms said. "It will be a project supported by a majority of the citizens of Virginia Beach."

The study is the first step in a project that's at least six years away and is expected to answer questions about the route, cost, number of expected users, location of park-and-ride lots, possible road closures, environmental impacts and noise.

The Beach segment is the first phase of the federally funded study - the total cost is $5.7 million - that will also look at extending the rail line to Norfolk Naval Station. Hampton Roads Transit, the region's transportation authority, hired Omaha, Neb.-based architecture and engineering firm HDR to do the study, which will take about 16 months.

The Beach City Council is in final negotiations to buy the old 10.6-mile Norfolk Southern corridor for $40 million, which includes $10 million in city money. It crosses the city from Newtown Road to Birdneck Road, roughly paralleling Interstate 264 and Virginia Beach Boulevard.

Most council members have said they're waiting to see the results before taking a position on light rail. The body's last official action was its vote against the project after the 1999 referendum.

The city is also forming a citizen advisory committee to research the project. The group will start meeting this summer. The first public hearings on light rail will be in July.

Part of the city's study will determine how high the light-rail route would need to be elevated to prevent clogging already-busy intersections. For example, it's almost certain a bridge would be needed to raise the line over the congested Rosemont Road/Virginia Beach Boulevard intersection, said Ray Amoruso, HRT's vice president of planning.

Witchduck Road and Independence Boulevard might also need bridges, he said.

The study will also identify smaller roads that cross the line, such as some in the Thalia neighborhood that might need to be closed to make way for light rail.

As the study moves forward, the city is crafting development plans for areas on the light-rail route, which planners call "strategic growth areas," or SGAs.

Growth plans for Pembroke and Town Center, the Oceanfront and Newtown Road, which are either finished or under way, have a strong light-rail focus. About half of the city's growth areas are on the rail line, as Planning Director Jack Whitney pointed out at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

"If light rail does happen, and we're smart, we will make those plans ahead of it," City Councilman John Uhrin said. "It would be silly to go forward and not take the SGAs into account."

Largely, the study is about gathering information, which takes time, planners said.

"There's always a hunger for having the answers, but so much data has to be assembled," Amoruso said.

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122. aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com