Regardless of what it was supposed to be doing for the past 18 years (1991 was when the Peninsula MPO and the Southside MPO merged in order to, get this, increase regional cooperation), it is going through some changes. These changes were mandated by the Federal Highway Administration. First, they will change their name from MPO to TPO, or Transportation Planning Organization, which is substantially less vague than MPO. Most of the other changes involve increasing transparency, which, until recently was as clear as mud. A few of these changes include a public comment period at the beginning of each meeting (which apparently never existed before), a freight hauler’s advisory committee and a citizen advisory committee.

To give an example of how weak our MPO has been in the past compared to other MPOs, the group Future of Hampton Roads released a few statistics. Apparently, in the most recent state budget cuts, Hampton Roads’ new construction budget fell 31% while Northern Virginia’s fell only 19%. Even more alarming is the fact that funding for interstate projects alone fell 72% in Hampton Roads and only 1% in Northern Virginia. Maybe the discrepancy is due to our superior quality roads here in Hampton Roads. Yeah right. The real reason Hampton Roads has such a large number of off-road, jacked-to-the-sky pickups and SUVs is so they can climb out of the potholes on I-64 on their way to work. The reason our funding fell so much is directly due to our weak regional institutions. Northern Virginia’s MPO has always had multiple members of the Legislature on the board. This way they can take concerns to the State first-hand with authority, unlike Hampton Roads, which has always sat by the front door crying to the Legislature crying to the members like an 8-year-old with a ridiculous Christmas List.

I am glad that we are finally making these changes. Hopefully Hampton Roads can pull out of our transportation cul-de-sac and take its rightful place as a leader in the State and the Nation.

Hersh, an avid cyclist on his Sunday morning ride, was apparently following traffic laws by pedaling east in the right travel lane – not the turn lane – on Shore Drive near Starfish Road in the early light shortly before 6 a.m., when a Ford Explorer struck him from behind. He was wearing a helmet and a bright yellow windbreaker with reflective strips, [Commonwealth's Attorney] Bryant said.

In other words, this lady did not see a bike in her lane even though the rider was wearing a bright reflective jacket? If she cannot see that, she should not be driving. Period. Furthermore:

The woman was cooperative, and she realized she had hit a bicyclist only after she felt the impact, stopped and saw Hersh’s body

Really? This man was wearing a reflective jacket and she could not see him until she felt the impact and stopped to check what it was? She had to have known that she hit somebody. She can’t be that … inattentive. The police said that they could not find evidence that she hit him through negligent driving. How about section § 46.2-839 in the Virginia Code? This code says:

Any driver of any vehicle overtaking a bicycle … proceeding in the same direction shall pass at a reasonable speed at least two feet to the left of the overtaken bicycle … and shall not again proceed to the right side of the highway until safely clear of such overtaken bicycle…

If she had been observing this law, she would not have hit him. It would have been impossible. She would have slowed down and moved over. Wait. She said she didn’t see him. Was it foggy? No, she would have slowed for inclement conditions. Was it stormy? No, same situation. The weather was clear. She had to have seen him. If she didn’t she was distracted by something. The Police checked cell phone record etc. but look around you sometime on the highway. There are people reading the paper, eating, shaving, putting on makeup, changing the radio, writing, and any number of other things that should not be done while driving. If the lane was too narrow to pass the bike, she should have observed the definition of “substandard width lane” in § 46.2-905, which states that a substandard width lane is “a lane too narrow for a bicycle … and another vehicle to pass safely side by side within the lane.” This driver should lose her license. I keep hearing people say that he shouldn’t have been riding his bike down Shore Drive. Is there another, safer road that parallels Shore Drive? Anybody else remember 2006? You know, when Virginia Beach was called “Bicycle Friendly?” Apparently they are only friendly if you are on an exercise bike in a gym. Normally, I’m not much to sue people, but I hope that this cyclist’s family sues the driver for everything she’s worth. Sue the city too. “Bicycle Friendly” is false advertising.

Mayor Fraim Speaks to the IRP

Yesterday, I attended and spoke at the Midtown Tunnel Public Meeting at Norfolk’s City Hall. Overall, I was more impressed with the speaking members of the public than I was with the board. Unlike other public meetings, which are designed to address the public’s concerns, this one was intended to be a one-way meeting. In other words, people got up to speak. After ever member of the public had spoken, the board thanked everyone for showing up and dismissed the meeting. There was a fairly good turnout amongst the public, however, only twelve spoke. Of those twelve, eight (66%) spoke against the high proposed tolls. Six of the eight said that they were not completely against all tolls, just outrageous tolls. Mayor Fraim, the first to speak, said that the residents of Hampton Roads “should not be billed twice,” referring to the method of taxing the region and then charging them, in full, for the cost of a State highway. The mayor also called for the State to contribute. The third speaker (I failed to catch his name), called the practice of “Congestion Pricing*” another word for price gouging and stated that in any other situation, it would be illegal. The fourth speaker, a Mr. Henry Schreiber, called for the state to contribute and called the high toll a “disservice to [Hampton Roads] and the State of Virginia.” There were a couple of residents from “Raleigh Row**,” who wanted to make sure that there would be no disruption to their century old homes. A good quarter of the speakers called for the Midtown Project to include room for a future Light Rail extension. There were no speakers that were against a Light Rail capacity for the tunnel project. Towards the end, a Mr. Edward Ellis spoke, asking the board to question the company’s profit margin for the project. He also called for a cap on tolls, to prevent the company from raising them once it received approval.

There will be two additional meetings in the coming months. The first is at the Norfolk City Hall on May 13^th from 6-9 PM. This will be the Financial Presentation. The second and final meeting will take place on June 10^th, from 6-9 PM at Portsmouth City Hall. There will be no more public comment sessions.

Notes:
* Congestion Pricing = Tolls increase in relation to the traffic on the highway. In other words, the toll is cheap in off hours and high in rush hours.
**Raleigh Row = The Last row of houses left over from the old Atlantic City, a section of Norfolk torn down to make room for the Hospital Complex.

^^For those interested: Raleigh Row^^

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Time: 5 – 9 PM
Location: City of Portsmouth Council Chambers, 801 Crawford Street, 6th Floor City of Portsmouth, VA 23704

Date: Wednesday: April 22, 2009
Time: 6 – 9 PM
Location: City of Norfolk Council Chambers, 810 Union Street, 11th Floor Norfolk, VA 23510

REMEMBER! These are THE ONLY TWO MEETINGS where you can submit you comments.

For more information, visit http://www.midtowntunnel.org/

• Kempsville Rd & Indian River Rd.
• Independence Blvd. & Virginia Beach Blvd.
• Indian River Rd. & Military Hwy. – Grace period ends April 30th
• Holland Rd. & Rosemont Rd. – Grace period ends May 21st

I’m not sure where I stand on the actual use of traffic cameras. Right now I lead to the ‘opposed’ side of the fence. I am definitely opposed to Virginia Beach’s new installations, however. They should be spending more wisely but apparently they think otherwise.

VA Beach Traffic Cams

View

VA Beach Traffic Cams in a larger map

Chesapeake and Virginia Beach want this highway to fix their traffic created by years of failing to plan. This project has been in the works since the 1980s and has continually failed approval. The project price tag keeps ballooning. A few years ago, the price was estimated at $1 billion (VDOT’s website still states $1 billion on its project page). Today, the Virginian-Pilot reported a $2 billion price tag (if built right now). According to the Final Environmental Impact Study, the estimate is between $2.2 billion and $2.7 billion when we consider inflation for a 2014 construction midpoint. So lets get this right, if built today, this highway would cost $95 million/mile. If we wait for a more reasonable deadline, and assume that construction would be half-completed by 2014, it would cost between $102.8 million and $126.2 million per mile. Remind me again why this is a better option than light rail… Even if we assume the 35% inflation ($2 billion in 2009 to $2.7 billion in 2014), if you use Norfolk’s cost-per-mile for light rail, you could build over 51 miles of light rail. That would be more than sufficient to build the LR to the Beach with enough southward spurs to pick up Oceana, Lynnhaven, Princess Anne, and Greenbrier.Why are we wasting money on building yet another highway? This highway will become congested just like every other highway in Hampton Roads.  In fact, in the “Transportation Capacity” section under “Preferred vs. No Build Comparison,” the paragraph reads:

As with the freeway segments themselves, SEPG will benefit the congestion forecasted on the local street approaches to freeway
interchanges. SEPG will substantially reduce traffic volumes at all approaches, but the reductions will not always result in improvements in service levels, given the thresholds for
the various service level categories. For example, at the Battlefield Boulevard, Greenbrier Parkway and Indian River Road approaches to I-64, the SEPG causes daily volume reductions of 11,500, 7,100 and 13,800 vehicles, respectively. These reductions are not sufficient for improved service levels; the forecasted service levels remain at F on all three roadways. However, some volume reductions do improve the service level. For example, Rosemont Road is reduced by 3,100 vehicles (6.0%), which will improve the service level to from F to E.

Read that again. If you are paying attention, it says that at the Greenbrier, Battlefield, and Indian River Rd. interchanges, the Southeastern Parkway  will not result in a Level-of-Service (LOS)  improvement. Additionally, the best example that they could put for a LOS improvement was Rosemont Road, which would improve from an ‘F’ to an ‘E.’ Is that similar to moving from an ‘F-’ to an ‘F+’ on a school report card? Are we prepared to spend over $2 billion on a highway whose success is measured by how many fewer hours it will be congested? For the record, the FEIS states that the Southeastern Parkway will be congested 12.9% less and move 11.7% faster during congestion than if we did nothing. In other words, instead of sitting in traffic for an hour at 24 mph, you’d only sit in traffic for 53 minutes at 27 mph.

Is Hampton Roads ready to pay over $2 billion to save 7 minutes on our rush hour commute? I don’t think so. I think we should look at diverting this money to things such as LRT, which can be expanded MUCH easier, quicker, and cheaper than a highway.

Population:

• Hampton Roads = 1.65
• Charlotte MSA = 1.70

Population Density:

• Hampton Roads = 425 persons/sq. mile
• Charlotte MSA = 500 person/sq. mile

Now, you might be tempted to think that their higher population and density contributed to their having 181% of their first year projected ridership. I’m sure that has contributed to the large ridership, but consider this:

Total Commuters:

• Hampton Roads = 795,343
• Charlotte MSA = 801,778

Percent of Commuters using Public Transportation excluding Taxis:

• Hampton Roads = 1.86
• Charlotte MSA = 1.75

In other words, despite their larger population and larger number of commuters, Hampton Roads has a larger percentage of commuters using public transit. Charlotte also faced a large number of cost-overruns and delays and even a referendum to reject the half-cent transportation sales tax (tax funds mass transit in the region). The referendum would have essentially killed all future Charlotte Light Rail. Fortunately, despite a large amount of public outcry against the project, the referendum failed by 70%.

Hampton Roads can do this. Even more-so if the Beach gets on board. I do think that Norfolk needs to look at a larger parking deck for the Newtown Road Station. Charlotte’s end-of-the-line 1,120 space deck fills up by 8:15 AM.

Does your local government invite citizen input?

To me, this is frightening. We are in a time when there are a large number of issues that need to be resolved. Many of these issues have been caused by our current or former government officials. Young people are the ones that will have to solve these problems. Many young people already have solutions or suggestions in mind. If only they could find somebody that would listen. A large majority of older people almost immediately write off the comments of young people almost entirely on their age. For some reason there is a large misconception that young people cannot possibly have an idea that has not been heard already because older people have more experience. Older people need to give young people a chance. Most of us have excellent ideas. Now would be a great time for older people to listen to young people and guide them instead of putting them down.

Regardless, I’ll move on to the next issue I have with the Regional Survey. There was one particular question of great interest: What are the most important regional issues in Hampton Roads? The result? The top three issues across all groups are Transportation, Regionalism, and the economy, in that order.

Most Important Hampton Roads Regional Issues

While this in-and-of-itself is very interesting, showing that a very large group of people in Hampton Roads have Regionalism on their mind, there is an even more interesting result. This is the breakdown of people that responded to this question:

Top 3 Issues Broken Down by Interviewee Groups

Note that among government officials, Transportation and the economy is put before regionalism. Appointed officials recognize that, while taking a back seat to transportation and the economy, regionalism is important to Hampton Roads’ future. Elected officials, on the other hand, did not mention regionalism. In my opinion, the ‘others’ group, made up of other various community leaders, was a closer representation to the majority of Hampton Roads residents.

We need to find these elected officials and vote them out of office. Our officials need to recognize that regionalism is important to the future of Hampton Roads. A Regional Hampton Roads would have more power to compete nationally and internationally for outside investment, both public and private. You think New York City would look like it does today if each borough competed against the other for everything?