Hampton Roads’ “Third Crossing” is back in play. A majority of Hampton Roads legislators have reached an informal agreement that the bridge-tunnel linking Norfolk and Newports News does need to be built, quelling speculation that the massive project was unaffordable, given the limited funding mechanisms available. (Read the Virginian-Pilot story here.)
What remained unresolved was how to pay for the Third Crossing and other expensive highway projects — requiring an estimated $275 million a year — that local political and business leaders insist are necessary. Legislators are exploring a package of tolls and selective regional taxes.
There are good reasons for supporting the Third Crossing from an economic development perspective. But that constitutes only one part of legislators’ ambitious road-construction plans, most of which are designed to alleviate congestion.
Still absent from the discussion is the idea that commuters, businesses or anyone else also need to alter their behavior in any way. From what I’ve read, land use reform, carpooling, mass transit, telework and schedule shifting don’t seem to be on the table. I can only hope that Hampton Roads lawmakers are considering alternatives that the newspapers just aren’t covering.
It’s ironic that Hampton Roads is the locale for two of the more successful suburban redevelopment projects in the state — Town Center in Pembroke and Oyster Point in Newport News — not to mention the incredibly successful revitalization of downtown Norfolk. From what I can tell, those success stories, which increase density around existing infrastructure without significantly increasing congestion, don’t appear to have had any impact on the local discourse about transportation.