urbanfan

Not all of it. In fact most of the issue is access not ownership.

.....But, Norfolk offered incentives by way of parking and other things that allowed them to sell at a lower rate. Not the case in virginia beach. No judge will ever give VB the same thing Norfolk gave because your comparing apples to oranges.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree. This is going to mire down into a huge legal battle. Of which NS has the money to do it right. Even with eminent domain, the beach doesn't get that land for free. It has to pay fair market value for the property. That's where the issue is right now. NS feels that the beach is not offering a fair market value for the property. The beach does. So we go to court. What happens if NS wins. The beach has to pay the amount that NS was shooting for all along or drop the eminent domain suit, and they are out more tax payer dollars to pay for the court costs and lawyers. However, there is still a chance that VB would win the dispute, but you're still out a hefty sum of taxpayer dollars to pay for the court costs and lawyers. I think VB would be better served trying to meet NS in the middle.

Yes, suffolks downtown is very urban for such a rural city. In face it is much more walkable and urban than Town Center. The only difference is that town center has high rises, suffolk doesn't.

I believe just a few weeks ago an article came out about that saying that they would limit Bus and Trailer parking to loading and unloading and then they would have to move around to the side streets.

Of course it would be a new bridge crossing. I know that trains and transit cannot share the same track. First of all you don't know what route I am talking about. The route from there would run across to pourtsmouth and take an immediate right on berkeley and run across another water crossing then cross 264 all the way up to high street following court street. From there you can hit every generator you talked about and for less money. All I'm saying is there is more than one way to cross the river. It doesn't have to be in a tunnel that is very expensive.

I am pretty sure that a more high priority area for a line extension would be from the crossing at harbor park into portsmouth. There already is a train crossing and it would run from there up to the ocean view area. In fact I would rather see a crossing here and some type of Grand Central at harbor park than add to the cost of the midtown tunnel. Edit: Sorry meant to quote SCM's comment.

Light rail vehicles are not driverless. They are still manned vehicles. Stops at stations are mandatory, mainly because the clearances between the platform and the train are very minimal, any bit of swaying from speed on the track and you would scratch the sides of the trains.

It's not that simple. You can't just take out a stop. It took many years of planning and forecasting ridership to finally get approval from the government. You take a station away and all of your forcasting numbers are completely different. I am sure that HRT will lend no ear to this small group of people because they have had well over five years and countless workshops and meetings to attend to voice there concerns and opinions, which many residents from the area did attend. Where were these people when they had the opportunity to speak out?

These are just renderings of what the trains COULD look like. HRT and this small segment of light rail is not purchasing an order that would be enough to justify ordering alone. HRT will be partnering with other communities that are building light rail, therefore they are at the mercy of whatever cities design for light rail come up with.

Light rail trains do not operate much faster than that, not that they can't. The appeal is that the ride is direct, you can relax and not have to deal with traffic and it is still comparable in time to driving if you account for traffic into downtown. Also, the fact of it running every 7.5 minutes during rush hours is a big plus.

The light rail does not start at the hospital. I starts on the west side of Brambleton avenue across from the Hospital area. From there it travels parrallel to Brambleton and crosses the Hague via a new bridge which is being designed right now by Parsons Brinkerhoff (sp).

Interesting how they mention Houston, which just now is enjoying the benefits of Light Rail. Less than two years old. Maybe even younger. Wonder where they would be without it. Time to jump on board VaBeach.

Construction cannot start till funding is realeased from congress. Which is still a few weeks away. Also, the portion of light rail that will run through downtown will not have rail ties. The track will be laid and encased in concrete to make a seemless transition for cars to drive over. Probably the rail ties are for the portion of existing rail track that is still used and runs out to Lamberts Point.

All LRT vehicles can be driven in either direction. There is always a cockpit in the front and rear of the train so that at the ends of lines expensive track doesn't have to be laid to turn the vehicles around.

Design build is basically a streamline process. Mostly larger companies like WM Jordan, and others have in house engineering and architectural work so that everything can be done in house. The thinking is that this speeds up the process not having to wait on other engineering and architectural firms to submit there drawings. Because most A/E firms arn't working on one project at a time (more like 10 - 12 at a time, and we are a small firm) they have to wait to work on a project as time comes available. Pushing back deadlines and such. Happens all the time. You see alot of churches using this type of process.

Exactly, the fireworks display was impressive. They said the largest fireworks display on the east coast, and I believe them. It lasted almost exactly thirty minutes, but they did the same exact thing in three different spots along the park. Very impressive.

All new Highway projects must be built with HOV lanes. Federal law requires it in congested areas to be approved for funding. If you read the About The Project section it mentions the HOV Lanes.

I really don't think you will see the third crossing in the size they were pushing for. They have been studying building just the portion of 564 to interstate 664 and then a spur down to 164. I have thought all along that that is all they needed to do. The M&M is not exceeding its capacity yet and could easily handle the influx of tractor trailers. It would give direct access to all the ports. Throw in the new tube at the midtown and traffice get substantially better. Then we could require all trucks to use the M&M instead of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, which would at least clear up three back ups every day from trucks that don't pay attention to the height limits.

Orioles won the game. It was a beautiful day to watch baseball. I have never seen Harbor Park so packed. I was there 1.5 hours early and the place was packed. People were parking at the mall and in downtown Norfolk and riding the bus over because there were no places to park. I had never seen downtown's street so alive then on that day. And the naysayers say that MLB or major league sports don't help economically. Bull. Just ask all these restaurants/malls/and private establishments who had an influx of street traffic on Friday.

I assume that you are talking about Harbor Heights. There is nothing being built beside it, both cranes belond to Harbor Heights.

I believe the project in Vabeach is the Ocean Club condos on the strip.

Nothing is impossible. I am a structural engineer. Anything can happen, just show me the money. More than likely to produce a high rise it would have to be over the garage portions of the site. It would require temporarily shutting down a parking garage. Ripping it apart, driving new piles, rebuilding the parking garage and columns for the building and then finishing the tower. Not impossible, just improbable.

It will be tough. More than likely they are going to have to beat a very tough Maryland squad to get there, unless someone else upsets Maryland.