NORFOLK
The look of Norfolk's light-rail starter line - scheduled to open in about a year - is starting to take shape.
Stations have been designed.
Electrical poles and wires are going up.
The pavement around embedded rail has been dyed red.
Until now, much of the work on the $288 million rail line, the Tide, has been in the ground. With construction nearly 50 percent complete, though, the Tide is rising.
City officials have decided on a neo classical style for the 11 light-rail station shelters that is designed to fit in historic neighborhoods, including Freemason, as well as more suburban settings, including Ingleside.
The shelters' appearances will vary, with heavier columns and finishes downtown and lighter, more airy features in the outlying neighborhoods, planning director Frank Duke said. Their size will vary as well, with larger shelters at stations that are projected to carry more passengers.
Each will have benches, trash cans, lighting and a ticket vending machine.
"They're nice, considering we went at it with a bare-bones perspective," said City Councilman W. Randy Wright, who has championed the rail project.
The original design was very basic, but council members agreed to enhance the look at the city's expense. Hampton Roads Transit is now advertising for bids to build the stations.
"But what you see now will not be the final product," Wright said.
The budget includes $10,000 for each station for art to be incorporated into shelter windscreens.
Karen Rudd, Norfolk's cultural affairs manager, said artists will be hired to enhance each station's windscreen. The possibilities include using etched glass, colored glass or decorative films that are fused to the glass.
She said the windscreen will have to maintain a certain level of transparency and openness for safety reasons.
In addition, two to three larger pieces of art will be commissioned for light rail using $300,000 from the city's public art fund. No decisions have been made about the art or where it would be displayed, Rudd said.
Designs have also been finalized for a vehicle storage and maintenance facility that's being built adjacent to Norfolk State University.
As with the stations, the original design was enhanced after NSU administrators requested that it blend better with campus architecture. The new look is taller and uses more brick.
Although a nearly $11 million contract to construct the building has already been awarded, HRT officials said they expect the changes will add about $1.5 million to the cost.
Other elements of the rail project are rising from the ground as well.
The electric, or catenary, poles that hold the wires that carry power to the rail cars are being bolted in the ground along the eastern end of the line. The galvanized steel poles will be painted black from Harbor Park to the medical school
The cement pavement around embedded rails downtown are being tinted a shade of red to simulate brick. The color was chosen for aesthetics as well as to more clearly delineate the tracks from the street pavement.
The 7.4-mile light-rail line will run from Newtown Road at the city line through downtown to Eastern Virginia Medical School. It's projected to carry 6,000 to 12,000 passengers a day.
The project is being paid for with federal, state and local money. Norfolk's share is $53.7 million. The state is contributing $67.1 million and the federal government is contributing $167.2 million.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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for some of the commentators....
light rail trains don't go "choo choo". now that we have that out of the way. i've never seen a population kick and scream so loudly into progress and change (i didn't take that from obama...i promise). now, i'm not saying light rail is the be-all-end-all of traffic problems in this area, however, it will atleast be another option.
it's called a starter line, because it will be a microcosm of an eventually larger system. would you have rather the city and state spent billions on a much larger track at one time, or paid for it will every incremental addition?
those destinations for light rail that some consider to be "nowhere" are "somewhere" for others. not everybody in tidewater (i hate saying hampton roads) has a car. and if they do have a car, they may not want to drive it everyday.
...
i'm for light rail, but my biggest concern is how hrt and norfolk will handle the flooding problem. i assume the rail cars won't run if there is a flood. but how would that effect convenience and schedules?
Light Rail
Yes, it should be expanded, the old Granby St-Ocean View line should be revived.
Someone always has to complain about something
If some of you posters had a chance, you would complain about the roads and all the traffic. With the light rail, it will ease the traffic which will eventually help the roads, because they won't wear out so quickly. If you use the lightrail, it will help in many aspects of your live, including your health. To start something like this it takes time for everyone to get used to it. Unfortunately, society has shown that immediacy is how we need to be. We don't want to wait for anything. You have to plant the seed, before a tree can grown. It takes time for the tree to grow. The more it grows, the stronger it is. That is a metaphor for what life is all about.
lightrail is needed!
The ONLY thing I miss about living in Cleveland Ohio is being able to fly past gridlocked traffic on the light-rail system!Hampton Roads will reap the benefits in a very short period of time!
Whether you guys accept it or not...
Light rail is coming to Virginia Beach and it will prove to be the greatest decision the city ever made. Connecting downtown with town center and the oceanfront creates an urban powerhouse. Advice to naysayers: Get it out of your system. Light rail carries 20X as much people as roads. Embrace the situation. Don't keep fighting it
$10,000 for art. Looks like
$10,000 for art. Looks like I'll need to stock up on K-Y Jelly. If this thing gets to the beach, VB council will have to outspend Norfolk.
over /under any takers??
annual subsidy per city required to keep this turkey alive during second year of operation, 5 million dollars, somewhere between the 3rd and 5th year escalating to, 10 million per city....it happens everywhere else ...any bets??? I see the lobbyists have shown all their flunkies how to use the blog too
I live and work near stops
I live and work near stops but have no intentions to ride. If it went to the oceanfront I might take it once in a while. If they try to jack up my rent for living near the thing I won't be happy.
300000 dollars of OUR money going to waste. If an artist wants to donate art let them. Heck I gave the dnc free art ideas and they didn't have courtesey to reply. Let the taxpayers vote on how their money is spent.
Note - Dnc as in downtown
Note - Dnc as in downtown norfolk council.
It's about time that the
It's about time that the city decided what those stations would look like. It has been under construction for more than a year now, right?
Also, that colored cement is ugly. You can see some of it over by Harbor Park. It will probably look uglier in five years when you get all the grease and grime all over it. I don't know why they think regular gray concrete doesn't contrast enough with black asphalt, but whatever.
This fiasco will never pay for itself
This fiasco will never pay for itself and will require a government subsidy decade after decade long after those who pushed it are dead. Sessoms and Virginia Beach included.
roads
Roads pay for themselves? I had no idea!
Roads
The roads lead to where I need to go. The choo choo doesn’t.
Really?
Do you pay taxes?
yes
yes. what does that have to do with roads/rail paying for itself. Roads don't pay for themselves either. Rail, on the other hand, may allow me to stop paying so much in gas (right now? no, but eventually? yes). You see, I think toward the future... not yesterday. Maybe some of the posters on here should do the same. Good Knight!
It Truly Amazes Me...
...That some of these commenters have their heads stuck so far into the sand that they can't even spell, much less exercise any common sense.
I am sure most of these people had ancestors who opposed the first stage coaches that ever ran, and probably the passenger trains that once ran between Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Modular design
I hope the stops as well as the trains are modular in design so they will be easy to disassemble and sell on E-bay when this pipe dream is over.
Who will ride
With the way norfolk council is running businesses out of town (Bar Norf, HAND, table dancing on granby, no jell-o girls), what will be the reason for anyone to ride the train to norfolk?
More to life than alcohol and dancers
Is sounds like you are interested in alcohol and women dancers and that's it. Have you ever thought to do productive things?