about 3 days ago - No comments
Sunday’s Virginian Pilot had 2 definitively anti-light rail letters to the editor. The first, entitled “Hard Questions on Light Rail,” assumes that light rail is meant to replace the vehicles currently used by commuters actually commuting. The author, Arthur S. Poole, then goes on to suggest that the tax-subsidized nature of light rail means that, [...]
about 3 weeks ago - No comments
The Virginian-Pilot reported the other day that Wally Erb, the man behind the the most recent drive for a light rail referendum, was able to gather only 1,083 signatures. Unfortunately for Mr. Erb, he needed 25,000 signatures. 25,000 signatures represent less than six percent of Virginia Beach’s population. 1,083 signatures represent less than .25% of [...]
about 5 months ago - 5 comments
I have had more than a few conversations and questions about light rail in Chesapeake. Back in July 1999, the area undertook a study for potential corridors for both Chesapeake and Portsmouth. I have uploaded the file from the study available here. I have also converted the Chesapeake routes into a Google earth file for [...]
about 5 months ago - No comments
HRT has released their final “cost-to-completion” for the Tide light rail system currently under construction in Norfolk. The new final cost is $338,284,251. This is, of course, much higher than the $232 million that was originally promised. Despite claims that HRT’s new President and CEO Philip Shucet is responsible for the firming up of the [...]
about 5 months ago - No comments
Norfolk has finally announced that it will start a 10-month-long public input period for the future of Waterside. According to the Virginian-Pilot, Mayor Fraim wants to keep the facility open to the public. This could be a step in the right direction. First, Norfolk has finally decided to listen to its own residents instead of [...]
about 5 months ago - 1 comment
The Commonwealth Transportation Board will vote today on the proposed High Speed rail line from Richmond to Norfolk. Hopefully, we can get the funding we need from the government and our region can finally start moving forward. Well, most of our region. Norfolk will move forward with its planned expansion of light rail. The Peninsula [...]
about 5 months ago - No comments
Th Pilot reported that the new temporary leader for Hampton Roads Transit, Philip Shucet, will ask Virginia Beach to share 20% of the VB Light Rail Extension Study’s cost. Coming in at approximately $245,000, it is the latest in a long series of problems, real or perceived, at HRT. The money is to cover the [...]
about 6 months ago - 2 comments
A side note from the High Speed Rail meeting that I wanted everyone to know. When Thelma Drake (who is now the new Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation) arrived to the meeting, she apologized for being late due to a State Senate Appropriations meeting. She said that “when the appropriations committee [...]
about 6 months ago - No comments
Apparently someone made a mistake. The Virginian-Pilot is reporting that a section of the embedded light rail tracks must be reconstructed due to a failure during a routine inspection. The problem only applies to the concrete surrounding the tracks and in no way requires the rebuilding of the tracks themselves. While this is unfortunate, it [...]
about 7 months ago
Never will Chesapeake be bigger than Va Beach
about 7 months ago
Thats what Norfolk said about Virginia Beach in the 60s. Norfolk had 300,000+ residents. Virginia Beach only had 84,000. In the 50, Virginia Beach had only 42,000. Chesapeake had over 100,000. It has happened. To assume that it could never happen again is to ignore the past and possibilities for the future.
about 7 months ago
Henry mentioned in his post this will make 5 of the 7 cities interested in light rail. Suffolk i don’t expect to be interested right away but Hampton has no excuse. i’m sick of them piggybacking on NN ideas after they are pursued. yeah it’s gonna take joint effort but if u see the way they are trying to redevelop the city (or lack thereof) you’ll see that they are in no way utilizing the land to gear towards mass transit. i feel once it’s all said and done, Hampton is going to be the cause of a hold up in light rail connecting the southside with the peninsula via a tunnel
about 5 months ago
When is the chesapeake light rail gonna be finished and how long is the light rail is gonna take to build? What routes is it gonna go?