©
The pace of progress at the Midtown Tunnel might be described as glacial if glaciers required money and approval from Richmond. As it is, a combination of complexity, cost and the state's empty pockets has conspired to keep the project well short of the drawing board.
Construction on the $1.9 billion expansion was originally scheduled to begin later this year. Now, maybe, it'll begin in 2012. If, of course, the state can make a deal and find some cash.
Two weeks ago, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim sent the governor a letter complaining that further delays "cannot be tolerated." That letter joins a thick file of entreaties from Hampton Roads officials and drivers frustrated by a decade of inaction.
Over that time, funding for transportation has dwindled. Shifting politics has moved what little money there is to Northern Virginia and other communities where political battles can be won.
The combination of crumbling roads and disappearing money has left Hampton Roads in the unusual position of actually losing transportation capacity. The closure of the Jordan Bridge and the Kings Highway Bridge means that we, quite simply, have a harder time getting around South Hampton Roads now.
Building a second tube at the Midtown, along with extending the Martin Luther King Freeway, is probably the most pressing transportation need in the region. Elizabeth River Crossings, a consortium of private companies, has made a proposal to build it.
"I can tell you we are on track now to move this project along," said Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Greg Whirley. "These are very complicated deals to get together. Cost does go up as time moves on... but we're not at a point yet where we're talking about the numbers changing."
Whirley hasn't been in office long, and it would be unfair to blame Richmond's years of foot-dragging on him or the current administration.
But that doesn't change the math of this deal. Without serious investment from Richmond, tolls at the Midtown could be as much as $17 for a round trip, the kind of charge that could have enormous and complicated effects on the region's transportation system.
Neither the proposal nor the tolling dilemma is new. Neither is the cost of continuing to delay this project.
"It's clear that the longer this takes, the more expensive the project becomes," Fraim said. "Maybe VDOT assumes because the bulk of the project would be funded by tolls, they don't have to worry about the cost."
The state has said in the past that it would like to keep the tolls to $3 for a round trip, but doing so would require it to provide cash that would, in essence, buy down the toll.
That's the way public-private partnerships work. But because the state has been unwilling to spend money to uphold its part of the bargain, such partnerships have remained largely promises. It is long past time to fulfill them.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Tunnel Cash?? $17 Tolls? Great!
Whether you build another tunnel or a bridge, the obvious solution to the funding is simply an increase in the gasoline tax at least on par with our surrounding states.
This is a no-brainer but I guess our state representatives and Governor are just too much in big oil's pockets. They would appear to prefer $17 tolls and a liquor store on every corner than to give up the oil company political contributions. So, just as a Virginian Pilot editorial predicted after the election, our Governor will give much lip service to the traffic and road infrastructure problems for four years but will accomplish nothing.
You would think that our state pols would understand that the economy of the Commonwealth is being slowly crippled by their inaction on realistic funding for the road problems in Hampton Roads, the largest source of industrial taxes.
No bridge
You can't have a bridge. Can't block ships in ports or in the yards. It's a non-starter.
Not a tunnel Build a BRIDGE--Craney I to Norfolk Terminal area
(Continued) 5. Safer. Unlike a tunnel, a bridge would have breakdown lanes. Now, one disabled vehicle stops all traffic in the tunnel. Vehicle height limitations, dangerous cargo and driver fears are other serious drawbacks to tunnels. The longstanding Navy objections to a bridge from a security standpoint are weak. A tunnel is just as easy to sabotage as a bridge. Consider the Ashley/Cooper River Rte 17 bridges in Charleston, SC. For 50 years, all Navy ships and submarines at the Naval Station, Shipyard and Polaris Fleet had to go under these bridges to enter or leave their bases. A Craney Island bridge would also allow much faster muster of troops to the Naval Base in the event of an emergency.
Someone, please tell me why this option was dropped or not considered further?
Forget a Tunnel, Build a BRIDGE
Here's how to provide quick relief to the Midtown tunnel congestion. Build a BRIDGE from the Craney Island area to the NIT area instead of a parallel Midtown Tunnel. The advantages are significant.
1. Much Faster. Four to Five years for a bridge instead of eight to ten years for a second tunnel.
2. Cheaper. A bridge would cost about half that of a new tunnel.
3. Better traffic control. A parallel tunnel at Midtown just dumps the additional traffic onto the already overloaded Hampton Blvd and Brambleton Ave.
4. Immediate Relief. A bridge would provide a new access to Hampton Blvd from north of the ODU campus for students from Portsmouth, and the fastest growing areas of Western Branch and Suffolk. The bridge would immediately eliminate the congestion and truck traffic on lower Hampton Blvd at Redgate Ave. and at the Sentara Hospital and Brambleton Ave. (continued next comment)
hmmm
well it really isn't that much longer to take the MMBT to the HRBT and take the Granby exit
there is always a way around tolls if you know the local roads
Tolls
With tolls on midtown and downtown tunnels and Jordan Bridge being in the multi-dollar range, they might just have to make Twin Bridges on I64 a toll facility also. I forsee massive traffic increases there.
Why is it that nobody is
Why is it that nobody is complaining that this private plan, which includes "renovations" for the downtown tunnel that provide no improvement for drivers, will be placing tolls on both the midtown and downtown tunnels? If they want to build a new midtown tube and toll it, that's one thing, but the downtown tunnel should not have a toll unless they're going to improve the traffic situation there as well.
There should be two or more competing entities
The Downtown Tunnel could use a third, reversible tube as well.
The Downtown and Midtown should be sold to competing entities each charged with adding a tube and paying for them with tolls.
Competition for users will keep the tolls at the right level.
BTW, whatever happened to the replacement for the Jordan Bridge, did the cities and state finally harass the builders enough to scare them off?
Think about that for a sec......
If the midtown has a toll, and the downtown doesn't, where do you think all the traffic will be?
Since they both end up going essentially the same place, why would anyone pay to get somehere, when you can still get there for free?
People used the Jordan
People used the Jordan Bridge when they could have taken the downtown tunnel for free. Back in the day, people used 44 when they could have taken Virginia Beach Blvd. There's no evidence that tolling one route will keep people from using that route.