Henry_Ryto

I'd extend EVMS to the Navy base via ODU ASAP. Not only does it make sense, but it makes it more attractive for Virginia Beach to get in. (VB would have access to ODU and the Navy base.) As for the alignment, shoot up Colley Ave. to ODU. (I agree that the traffic problems on Hampton Blvd. would be too huge.) It's wide enough.

HRT already has two free shuttle buses on the base, Routes 75 and 77.

The 1999 proposal had a stop at Witchduck Road. As that would be in walking distance of my apartment, I'd certainly use it.

The City of Virginia Beach would never do it: too much tax revenue generated by Pembroke Mall.

I voted against Meyera in 2000 (Corillo) and 2004 (Dean). She is snarky with anyone who disagrees with her, elitist, a Democratic fundraiser, etc. That said, she's the lesser of evils in the 2008 field so far, with Will Sessoms and Don Weeks. While Weeks is anti-LRT, remember that Sessoms was one of two Council members (along with Barbara Henley) who endorsed a "Yes" vote on the 1999 referendum question. (Then, Sessoms is a dyed-in-wool facist, so I'd never vote for him.) The previous poster is correct: the busier roads in Virginia Beach would be bridged over.

According to Virginia News Source, Meyera Oberndorf has already made the first promise of her 2008 reelection campaign: to bring light rail to Town Center.

I went to the APTA TOD Conference today. 1. Contrary to a previous story in The Virginian-Pravda, HRT gave a presentation on Norfolk LRT that had the system operating 6 A.M.-Midnight daily. That means we can take it home from midweek Admirals games. 2. We were told the key to LRT stations is to make them more than transit stations, focal points for the community. Don't assume people will walk in the area: make it pedestrian-friendly. 3. Best line of the day, "BRT is the Barry Bonds of rapid transit...a bus on steroids."

I've been to Montreal and rode the Metro. A very good system. As for Hampton Roads, the planned frequencies are the lightest possible that people will still ride: every 15 minutes midday, every 7.5 minutes at rush hour. If ridership is high, we can always go back and add frequencies later. Where I have a problem with the planned schedule: 1. Only every 30 minutes in the evening. 2. Shutting down at 10 P.M. Monday-Thursday. That's too early if you're trying to get home from a Tides or Admirals game.

As I've said before, the major bus routes (1, 15, and 20) are too busy at rush hour to be handled well by the "toasters on wheels." We need some sort of new system to cover them; it looks like it will be LRT now. I took the bus into Norfolk today to see a matinee of Michael Moore's "Sicko". Catching the 20 home, I hit a myriad of problems: 18 minutes late leaving downtown, standees front to back, etc. The standee problem was so bad that at a couple stops people decided to wait for the next bus rather than pile in with us. We need trains, every 7.5 minutes at rush hour.

Not quite: 1. I'm a Republican who was a member of the Virginia Beach Republican City Committee 1998-2005. 2. James Toscano, HRT's chief lobbyist, is a former aide for Bob McDonnell. Not such a neat box.

Fairly simple: 1. LRT is an urban system. 2. Norfolk is urban. 3. Virginia Beach is essentially an overgrown suburb that's just starting to urbanize. Therefore, it is natural for Norfolk to be spearheading light rail.

As I mentioned before, Virginia Beach has a Citywide Transit Plan in the works. 30-foot hybrid buses are ideal for the low-density subdivisons that make up most of our city. My hypothesis is that LRT down the Norfolk Southern ROW will come out as a section of the Plan. Therefore, you can't vote against LRT without rejecting the entire Plan. Virginia Beach is running out of greenfields for development north of the Green Line. I would argue the only rational way for Virginia Beach to continue to grow is to go to Smart Growth in the Norfolk Southern Corridor. Fittingly our new Chief Development Officer, former Suffolk City Manager Steve Herbert, is a Smart Growther. Want to connect the dots?

It was $67 million for a monorail going 5 blocks, from the Dome site to the convention center. A HRT official I spoke to was incredulous that Virginia Beach would seriously look at such a proposal after turning down a BRT system for the entire Resort Area that would have cost $24.4 million. Saner heads prevailed and the monorail was ditched.

City engineers have made clear that the entire Resort Area will be gridlocked by 2010 unless we go to one-way streets. However, the VBHMA and RRA cling to their silly positions.

I mailed in my registration and check for Thinking Beyond the Station conference last night. The registration deadline is July 6.

It was my statement, so I will. The Virginia Beach Hotel/Motel Association (VBHMA) is determined to maintain the traffic pattern status quo on Atlantic Avenue. 1. They oppose going to one-way traffic on Atlantic and Pacific. a. They believe visitors drive up-and-down Atlantic window shopping for hotel accomodations. b. Going to one-way would turn traffic away from some businesses at the gateway points. 2. They want to be able to use the trolley lanes also for charter bus loading/unloading and business delivery parking. That was what became the biggest stumbling block for BRT: FTA regulations require that dedicated BRT lanes be used exclusively for BRT. You can't maintain two-way traffic, have loading zones, and dedicated BRT lanes at the same time. LRT would face similar obstacles: the VBHMA would want to maintain two-way traffic and loading zones on Atlantic Ave. There's not enough room to do it all.

"possibly" Wi-fi; HRT is still doing a cost/benefit analysis on it. However, I am looking forward to The Rapid.

LRT on Atlantic Ave. is a non-starter: the VBHMA doesn't want anyone touching the traffic patterns on Atlantic. (See: BRT debate)

To quote a senior city staffer, "The Resort Area is the Balkans." You have the three trade associations (Virginia Beach Hotel/Motel Association, Virginia Beach Restaurant Association, and Resort Retailers Association) plus those three have their own factions. Getting a consensus on an issue like LRT would be a nightmare; just look at what happened with BRT.

Politics will keep LRT out of the Resort Area. Maybe northeast from Birdneck to the convention center. Feeder buses from there into the Resort Area. Under a $5 million Federal grant, HRT is soon looking to buy 30-foot hybrid buses to begin replacing the overage VB Wave trolley fleet. The purchase has been endorsed by the Resort Advisory Commission (on which I sit) and now awaits City Council's approval. $5 million will buy 14-15 buses; the current trolley fleet is 32. A second $5 million grant application is in the works. Oceana is close enough to the Norfolk Southern ROW that it can easily be served by a feeder bus route.

Simple: Navy base transit. Being able to take the train to the base would eliminate car trips there, plus HRT Route 19. If you read my quoted post from hamptonroads.com, I agree with you on using the Midtown Tunnel to take LRT to Portsmouth. It might not take a third tube, but maybe the second tube wide enough with a barrier between the train tracks and traffic lanes.

"The most logical first extension" would be EVMS to Norfolk NOB via ODU. That makes it much more attractive for Virginia Beach to get in. As for the Beach, do we go in one leap (Newtown Rd.-Oceanfront) or in two steps (Newtown Rd.-Town Center, then Town Center-Oceanfront)? I would have long bet the latter, but I now believe it could be the former: 1. The ongoing Citywide Transit Plan will have to answer the Norfolk Southern ROW question, likely as one piece. 2. The Resort business community regular talks about a transit connection Resort Area - Town Center. LRT would answer it.

You could put it on Monticello Avenue beside the Mall if you can live with the missing traffic lane.

Let me throw out a Norfolk transit issue to you. If the Wachovia Center is built (as expected), the construction will force the HRT bus transfer position off of Charlotte Street, as it would be in the construction zone. The City of Norfolk wanted to move it for construction duration to Wood Street, but the Fire Marshall nixed it: Station 1 is there on the corner, and the buses would impede Fire and EMS traffic. So what is the alternative? UCAC member Kenneth Bone (Chesapeake) likes Harbor Park, figuring there will eventually be multimodal there with LRT and the proposed Higher Speed Rail station. My problem with that it's too seperated from downtown. My personal preference is Plume Street. Just a short walk to MacArthur Mall, Waterside, and the NET. The hitch is it could get in the way of preliminary LRT construction work there. Okay, geniuses, what do you propose?

I Googled myself and look what I found. One of my hats is that I'm Virginia Beach's only active member on HRT's User Citizen Advisory Committee (UCAC). Another hat is that I'm a Director with the Council of Civic Organizations (CCO), Virginia Beach's civic league federation. As for Ethan's comment about me hanging with tourism people, I'm the CCO's voting representative on VB's Resort Advisory Commssion (RAC). Getting back to transit, Virginia Beach has a Citywide Transit Plan in the works. One of the questions to be answered is "What system goes down the Norfolk Southern Right-of-Way?" The top option is light rail, thus my comment on hamptonroads.com If anyone is interested, the UCAC next meets this Wednesday evening (the 27th), 6:30 P.M., in the board room of HRT's Hampton office. Finally, now that I've found this, I have it bookmarked. I look forward to being able to rationally discuss the region's transit future.