It’s a sad statement about the level of public policy discourse in Hampton Roads when the most pointed newspaper commentary comes from a Northern Virginia. Thank goodness for Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. (Let us also give credit to the Daily Press editorial page for publishing his column, even if it contradicts a lot of what passes for wisdom from its own pundits.)
The citizens of Hampton Roads are about to start paying a lot more in taxes to pay for major transportation projects that will do very little to address traffic congestion, says Schwartz:
Let’s start with Route 460 and the Southeastern Expressway. How did these roads rise to the top of the priority list, when so little is being done to fix existing congestion? Neither highway shows any real benefit in terms of reducing traffic on existing highways like I-64 and I-264.
Meanwhile, the investment that would make a real difference to one of the worst bottlenecks in the region – additional tunnel and bridge capacity across the James River (with transit) – has been pushed to the bottom of the priority list.
The Southeastern Expressway doesn’t reduce traffic on existing roads and saves very little time for drivers while sending them right back into some of the worst existing bottlenecks in the region. But it paves over hundreds of acres of critical wetlands and opens up a whole new frontier for real estate speculation.
Even more egregious is the proposal for a new Route 460 from Suffolk to Petersburg parallel to the existing 460. The current road is predicted to remain at Level of Service A (free-flowing) along most of its length through 2030. Meanwhile, drivers on I-64 and countless other roads throughout Hampton Roads routinely endure Level of Service F, or gridlock.
Today, Route 460 carries fewer than 10,000 vehicles per day compared to average daily traffic volumes on I-64 of 43,000 to 80,000 vehicles per day in the Williamsburg area alone. Route 460 would also divert few, if any, trips from I-64 according to the environmental study.
Route 460 is predicted to cost at least $1.5 billion. After pitching the road to the public as a private toll-road construction project, the Virginia Department of Transportation now says that taxpayers would have to pay at least $1 billion of the cost. This would divert revenues from more critical needs which could include both commuter rail and extended carpool lanes on the Peninsula. Worse, one of the private bidders to construct 460 has pushed for tolls on I-64 on the Peninsula and diversion of those tolls to pay for 460.
Schwartz’ alternative? Redevelop downtowns and older commercial corridors with mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that support transit and reduce the number and length of automobile trips. In other words (my words, not his): More Virginia Beach Town Center and less Indian River Road.
I have yet to see either the Virginian-Pilot or the Daily Press dedicate the reportorial resources to compare the costs and benefits of, and alternatives to, the Southeastern Expressway and the U.S. 460 upgrade, much less the behind-the-scenes politicking that moved those two projects to the top of the project list. If those newspapers dedicated one tenth the ink to scrutinizing those critical projects in the news papges instead of cheerleading them on the editorial pages, they might do their readership a real service.
